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College 7s Season is Here: What Tournaments and How It All Ends

irish rugby tours

College 7s Season is Here: What Tournaments and How It All Ends

Lindenwood vs Life at last year's May Madness. Alex Goff photo.

Rugby 7s is now on the forefront of a large chunk of the college rugby community as several major championships are set to be held in May.

With the NCCR 7s May 14-15 in Kennesaw, Ga., endorsed by the USA Rugby College Council and run by entertainment company AEG in conjunction with the College Rugby Association of America (CRAA), and the May Madness 7s May 28-30 in New Orleans run by National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) and on CBS Sports Network, there are 12 (twelve!) major 7s championships.

May Madness has four men's brackets: Premier Cup, DI Club, DII, and Small College, and two women's brackets: Premier Cup and DI.

The National Collegiate Championships Rugby 7s (NCCR 7s) has six brackets as well, with DI, DII and D2/Open for men, and DI Elite/NIRA, DI Club, and DII for women. The two tournaments could have as many as 160 college teams.  

And don't forget that ACRA will have its own Women's DII championships for eight teams.

How do they get there? A larger series of qualifiers and tournaments to bolster any invitational spots out there  is springing up. We have put together a list of tournaments, but we know there are more. See the list below and please email us here to let us know if we missed you.

This coming weekend, the Chesapeake Rugby Conference holds its first event of the winter/spring, while Pitt hosts the Pitt Dome 7s.

Southern Virginia University hosts the Chesapeake Open Tournament #1 in Buena Vista, Va. JMU, Loyola-Maryland, Mary Washington, Mount St. Mary's, NC State, St. Joseph's, Southern Virginia, Virginia, UNC-Wilmington, VMI, and Virginia Tech are all slated to compete. This is a mixture of Chesapeake Conference teams and those from other conferences, both DI and DII. 

That's the situation also at the Pitt Dome 7s, with Pitt, University at Buffalo, West Chester, IUP, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Wheeling all competing on a field inside one of those inflated dome coverings (because it's cold). The tournament is also raising funds to help the residents of Tonga rebuild after the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano and resulting tsunami.

Update: You see we knew there were a few more. The University of Colorado is hosting a relatively small but high-end tournament with the likes of Air Force, Denver University, Northern Colorado, and more.

Here is our list of college 7s tournaments this winter/spring season. Again, please let us know if you think we missed one.

College 7s Tournaments Around the Country
Date Event Location Division
2/12 Furman 7s Greenville, SC Men DI/DII
2/19 Colorado 7s UC Boulder, CO Men DI/DII
2/19 Chesapeake Tournament #1 (Open) Buena Vista, Va. Men DI
2/19 Pitt Dome 7s Pittsburgh, Pa. Men D1/DII
2/26 Chesapeake Tournament #2 (Open) College Park Md. Men DI
2/26 Southern Conference UNC-Wilmington Wilmington, NC Men DII
2/26 SCRC 7s Alabama Tuscaloose, AL Men DI
3/19 Virginia Tech 7s Blacksburg, VA Women DI
3/26 Chesapeake Tournament #3 (Open) Emmitsburg, Md. Men DI
3/26 Liberty Conference Tournament   Men DI
3/26 Notre Dame Tournament South Bend, Ind. NCR CRC Qualifier
3/26 Southern Conference Furman Greenville, NC Men DII
3/26 Columbia, RPI, Hofstra & Fairfield. Fairfield University Women DII
3/26 USMMA, Fairfield, Hofstra & Maritime SUNY Maritime Men DII
3/26 Pac West 7s Stanford U. CA Men DIAA
3/26 WPU, Seton Hall, Drew & MSU Drew Men DII
3/27 Fordham, Molloy, Rutgers & UNH Fordham Women DII
3/27 Drew, MSU, SBU & Albany Drew Women DII
3/27 Marist, Vassar, New Paltz & Maritime Vassar Women DII
3/27 Marist, RPI, New Paltz, Vassar & Oneonta Hudson Valley 7s Men DII/DIII
3/27 Hilltop 7s Philippi, WV Women DI/DII
4/2 Big 10 Series-Illinois U. Illinois Men DI
4/2 Boise State Tournament Boise, Idaho NCR CRC Qualifier
4/2 New England Freejacks Boston, Mass. NCR CRC Qualifier (men)
4/2 Hofstra, Maritime, SBU & Molloy Stony Brook Women DII
4/2 Oneonta, New Paltz, Fairfield & Vassar New Paltz Men DIII
4/2 Lindenwood Qualifier St. Charles, MO Multiple
4/2 Bearcat 7s U. Cincinnati Men DI, DII
4/3 Marist, Fairfield, UNH & New Paltz Hudson Valley South 7s Women DII
4/3 Columbia, Rutgers, Fordham, Drew & MSU Montclair State Women DII
4/3 RPI, Albany Siena & Vassar (Hudson Valley North 7s) UAlbany Women DII
4/3 WPU, Marist, RPI, Seton Hall, USMMA RPI Men DII
4/3 Maritime, Hofstra, Drew & MSU Hofstra Men DII
4/9 Chesapeake Championships Fredericksburg, Va. Men DI
4/9 Liberty Conference Tournament   Men DI
4/9 Life University Marietta, Ga. NCR CRC Qualifier
4/9 Southern Conference East Carolina University Men DII
4/9 Tri-State Conference 7s Championship Fairfield University Women DII
4/9 Iron Man 7s Eau Claire, WI GMW
4/9 Queens Cup 7s Charlotte, NC Women DI
4/9 Big 10 7s Series-Purdue Purdue U. Men DI
4/10 Chris Munn 7s Northfield, Vt. (Norwich U.) Men DII
4/10 Tri-State Conference 7s Championship Hofstra Men DII
4/15-16 Tropical 7s Orlando, FL U23s
4/16 Bloodfest 7s Stevens Point, WI GMW
4/16 Big 10 7s Series-Michigan U. Michigan Men DI
4/17 RPI, Hofstra, Drew & Vassar Vassar Men DII
4/23-24 Cherry Blossom Tournament Washington DC Several
4/23 Liberty Conference Tournament   Men DI
4/23 MAC Conference Tournament   Men DI
4/23 Southern Nazarene  Oklahoma City, Okla NCR CRC Qualifier
4/23 Southern Conference Finals  Wake Forrest University Men DII
4/23 Beast of the East Tournament Portsmouth, RI Men/Women
4/23 Gareth Jones 7s College Station, Texas  
4/23 Wildcat 7s (TBC) Evanston, IL GMW
4/24 NEWCRC Championship   Men DII
4/24 Beast of the East Tournament Portsmouth, RI Men/Women
4/30 New England Freejacks Boston, Mass. NCR CRC Qualifier (women)
4/30 Red River 7s   DIA
4/30 Great Midwest 7s Cottage Grove, WI GMW
5/1 ACRA 7s Finals TBD Women DII ACRA
5/14-15 NCCR 7s Kennesaw State, GA Everyone
5/28-30 May Madness 7s New Orleans, LA Everyone