In Spring 2012, the Great Midwest Rugby Conference (originally named the WIIL Rugby Conference) was formed by joining D2 collegiate men's teams from the Wisconsin RFU, Illinois RFU, and CARFU. This was done partially to comply with USA Rugby's directive on forming conferences as well as increasing competition and enhancing the reputation of rugby in the Midwest. The Great Midwest Conference Champion receives an automatic berth to NCR Nationals and historically the conference finalist and 3rd place teams have also advanced to Nationals based on the competitiveness of the conference. In recent years, the Great Midwest added a Small College competition, has branched out into Iowa, and continues to add new teams to elevate our competition.
Great MW One Of The Best Conferences In DII College Rugby
It's early days in the Great Midwest Conference and everyone is still in it, mostly, but some teams have logged early results with noting.
Struggling right now is Northern Michigan, which had a tough opening two weeks against Minnesota Duluth and Marquette, both losses. There's time for NMU to rebound, however, and they are perfectly capable of it.
Minnesota-Duluth Lays Down An Early Marker
The University of Minnesota-Duluth opened up a new season in a new conference with a very impressive 65-19 defeat of Northern Michigan.
