The High Peaks Rugby Conference is a regional collegiate rugby league under National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) that spans schools primarily from the Rocky Mountain and Mountain West region. For the 2024 season, the conference expanded significantly by merging with the former Rocky Mountain Conference and adding more than a dozen new teams, making it one of the largest and most competitive college-rugby conferences in the country.
The Rocky Mountain men's DII college conference has named its All-Conference team.
The list, not surprisingly, includes several players from the top three teams in the conference, Montana State, Northern Colorado, and Colorado Mesa. Those three produce 13 of the 15 All-Conference players.
The University of Colorado has been sanctioned by DIA Rugby fot fielding two unregistered players in a league game this fall.
Two players, Hayes Ward and Sam Tilley, played against New Mexico on September 21. Neither player was CIPP'd and neither was listed on the official matchday roster. Those players were later registered with USA Rugby in the following week.
Ten conferences have confirmed their Men's DII College conferences, with three more to go.
Here's a rundown of what has happened so far.
(Photos by Sara Hoener, Villanova Rugby, and Kelly Williams)
It's a bit of a rivalry weekend in DIA and DIAA college rugby with several schools that have a bit of a history going at it; one of those rivalries will be revisited in the Rocky Mountains as Colorado takes on Colorado State.
The startling turnaround of Colorado Mesa continues, as the Mavericks claimed another big victory over the weekend.
Barely a month after giving up over 100 points to Northern Colorado, Mesa has figured out its attacking and defensive pattern, and with some players back from injury are a real force in the Rocky Mountain Conference in Men’s DII College.
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.
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.
