USA Rugby Announces Dates for College Sevens National Championship

UPDATE: 6/13/12: From Tam Breckenbridge, USAR Co-Collegiate Director, the Collegiate Sevens National Championship is now November 30-December 1, 2012.

from USA Rugby:

BOULDER, Colo. – USA Rugby has confirmed that the 2012 USA Rugby Men’s and Women’s College Sevens National Championships will be held on November 16-17, 2012.

Twenty-four men’s teams will make the National Championship through a combination of qualifying tournaments and At Large bids. Women’s teams will be selected on an invitational basis and a minimum of 12 teams will compete in the National Championship. The Women’s Collegiate Strategic Committee is expected to confirm the number of teams in the coming weeks.

Last year – the first year USA Rugby held the College Sevens National Championships – Life University and Central Washington delighted the crowd with an overtime men’s cup final thriller and the women of Norwich University put their stamp on the first-ever title game by taking Boston College out 34-5 in the women’s final.

In addition to pulsating college rugby action, the 2011 event was a valuable scouting mechanism for National Team coaches and All-American selectors. The selectors scouted the 2011 Championship looking to add to their player pools and prepare promising athletes for the 2016 Olympic Games at which rugby sevens will debut.

A venue for the 2012 tournament has not yet been confirmed.