NCR Release National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) has formed seven state-based regions that will compete in its January 15-17 All Star tournament.Referred to as the Shield Challenge, the national tournament features the best NCR rugby players from across the country. The three-day event will be held over Martin Luther King weekend at the Houston Sabercats’ AVEVA Stadium. Each All Star team will be formed over the next three months and include players from diverse schools and all divisions. In addition to the All Star teams, each region may also form a Rising Stars team that includes emerging all star-calibre players.The regions…

NCR Release Next Phase Rugby and National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) commenced a partnership to help NCR colleges expand their student athlete recruiting.Next Phase Rugby is an online platform that connects college rugby programs with high school rugby players. The app launched in May, and has quickly become the largest online rugby recruiting platform in the country with hundreds of high school players from over ten countries.Through the partnership, NCR will encourage its member colleges to establish free recruiting profiles to extend their recruiting reach. Next Phase Rugby will provide a discount to NCR colleges that choose premium membership and promote…

NCR Release National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) will rename the Men’s Small College Championship the Cohen Cup in honor of the competition’s founder and former President, Steve Cohen.Steve Cohen founded NCR’s predecessor organization, National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO), nearly 20 years ago to support and grow small college rugby in the United States.Cohen planted NSCRO’s roots when he launched the 2002 East Coast D3 Championships, the first-ever small college men’s and women’s rugby national playoff system. Following several successful national tournaments, NSCRO was formally established in 2007 by Cohen and Chip Auscavitch.During his tenure as President, Cohen grew NSCRO from…

NCR Release National Collegiate Rugby Announces 2021 Championships and All Star Tournaments17 September—National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) released the dates and locations for its men’s and women’s 15s Collegiate Rugby Championships, as well as the men’s All Star event scheduled for early 2022.The men’s 15s Collegiate Rugby Championship will be held on December 10-12 in Houston and crown national champions in D-IA, D-IAA, D-II, and Small College. With four teams from each division, the tournament includes semifinal matches, a third place match and a Championship game. Major League Rugby’s Houston Sabercats will host the tournament with the matches played in AVEVA…

National Collegiate Rugby Release 9 August — National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) named 107 student athletes as 2020-21 Scholastic All Americans. The 2020-21 group represents NCR’s inaugural naming of Scholastic All Americans. The program will become an annual recognition of NCR’s high performing student athletes, and is expected to grow as rugby clubs return to a normal schedule in 2021-22. The Scholastic All American list includes 41 women and 66 men across all NCR divisions. To qualify as a Scholastic All American, each student athlete must have maintained a 3.5 GPA or higher for the academic year and actively participated in…

NCR Release National Collegiate Rugby opens registration for 2021-22 Season2 August — National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) opened registration for the 2021-22 season on August 2. Registration will be available for NCR clubs, players and coaches, as well as referees.NCR will provide championship pathways for men’s Division I, Division I-AA, Division II and Small College and women’s Open Division and Small College. All 15s National Championships will be held in the Fall with the Spring featuring the Collegiate Rugby Championships for 7s. Over 600 men’s and women’s clubs have committed to NCR for the upcoming season. Despite the COVID impact and…

NCR Release NCR is happy to announce Jessie Blitz as the Small College Commissioner for the NCR Women’s programs. Jessie began her career with rugby as a child being a part of the sideline support for her father’s team at Occidental College and the Denver Harlequins Old Boys team. She never really found her passion for the game until she started playing in College at Western Colorado University in Gunnison. Jessie played and served as the team president her senior year and was selected as an NSCRO All-American in 2018. In college, Jessie needed an internship so she cold-called the…

NCR Release National Collegiate Rugby has tabbed Pat Clifton as 7s Commissioner. He will be charged with overseeing NCR’s various 7s championships. Clifton comes to NCR having spent a decade with United World Sports, the owner, and operator of the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship. He also brings more than a dozen years of administrative experience in grassroots rugby, including founding the Gateway Collegiate Rugby Conference, and running numerous 7s events and competitions, such as the Heart of America Classic, Fountain City 7s, and Midnight Madness Indoor 7s. “College rugby, and in particular 7s, is very near and dear to…