The Tri-State Conference men's collegiate league has long been a hybrid competition with one segment being part of the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO), and the rest were in Division 2, but now everyone is part of the same organization as the Tri-State D2 men's teams have joined NSCRO.

The Tri-State teams: Marist College, William Paterson University, Monroe College, Seton Hall University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) Kings Point, are all in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

“NSCRO is solely focused on collegiate rugby and given NSCRO's established track record of serving hundreds of teams in the country this is the best option for the Tri-State teams," said Conference Commissioner Tony Brown. The Tri-State Conferences joins ten other conferences that currently make up the new men's Open Division and will compete in the playoffs leading to a Fall National Championship.

Currently there are 8 men's teams in the Tri-State Conference that are already members of NSCRO and participate in the small college championship.

Three men's D2 conferences remain uncommitted, officially: Rocky Mountain (seven teams), New England-Wide (11 teams, including four from the old Rugby Northeast), and the SCRC D2 (six teams).