The Northern Lights Men's Collegiate Rugby Conference is a collegiate rugby conference that competes under the umbrella of National Collegiate Rugby (NCR). It is a part of the larger college rugby structure, which includes various leagues and divisions for men's and women's teams. The conference was listed as an organization on Exposure Rugby's event platform for the 2025-2026 season.
Minnesota-Duluth dominated about as much as you could in the Men’s DII College playoffs this past weekend, overcoming a snowy field and two extremely difficult opponents to make the national semis.
The Des Moines bracket of the Men’s DII College Playoffs might well have been a forgone conclusion a few weeks ago, but maybe it’s not anymore.
The four teams in it have their own reasons for thinking they could get through to the semis.
The Northern Lights conference seems like such a foregone conclusion that USA Rugby and Goff Rugby Report both made the same mistake, penciling in Minnesota-Duluth as the conference champion before the conference playoffs.
Having defeated Winona State, the top-ranked and defining national DII college champions Minnesota Duluth Fighting Penguins look to stay undefeated against North Dakota. Having already defeated their top two rivals for the Northern Lights Conference title, UMD are heavily favored to go unbeaten.
The fall collegiate season in Minnesota gets going with the All Minnesota tournament, which provides college teams competitive opportunities across divisional boundaries.
De La Salle HS
Saint Mary's (Rudy Scholz Finalist)
USA U20s (Captain)
USA Men's National 15s Team (Debut vs Georgia 2023 at age 20)
As a 17-year-old Spencer Huntley required a waiver to play for the USA U20s, an indication of how he was rated in the USA age-grade pathway. He got that waiver and impressed for the USA U20s, and then moved up to the USA U23s. He led the San Diego Mustangs to a national HS Club championship in 2024.
He also played in the SoCal single-school league for Cathedral Catholic.
Hope Rogers began playing rugby at age 16 in high school and continued to compete during her time at Penn State University. There, she won four National Championships, was crowned MVP on two occasions, was named to the USA Under-20s and earned Collegiate All-American honors for four years. Rogers was also an impressive discus player during her senior year in high school where she broke a school record and won Gold at Districts for the sport.
Mike played for Life College, Philly-Whitemarsh and played for the USA National 7s and 15s teams in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was also part of the Atlantis touring side, playing 7s for the team in several around the world.
