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.
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.
The University of Minnesota-Duluth deigns their defense of their Men’s DII college championship on September 19 when the Fighting Penguins visit North Dakota State.
Duluth finished the 2014 fall season 7-0 in the Northern Lights Conference before running the table in the national playoffs.
