The Cardinals Conference and the Southern Rugby Conference have officially announced a merger, and will operate as the Southern Rugby Conference for the immediate future.
This merger is one that commissioners Thomas Trumps and Jim Wiseman have been discussing for some time and now is the time to finalize it.
"We have been very happy with the direction NCR has taken with college rugby at the national level, but we felt that at a more regional level working together would allow for teams of all sizes and competitiveness to find the best fit for their clubs," Wiseman told GRR. "By joining forces we will be better able to help teams schedule games with nearby opponents that prior to now was difficult as teams were having to manage schedules around conference games."
One of the issues with both of these conferences is that some of the divisions are too small in the two conference as individuals. Southern's D1 teams need more competition, as does Cardinals' D2. With the merger, D3 remains robust while strengthening the rest of the divisions.
Wiseman said there will also be more opportunity for cross-divisional games, while teams with larger squads will have more opportunities for their 2nd sides to play.
