Rugby 7s is now on the forefront of a large chunk of the college rugby community as several major championships are set to be held in May.
With the NCCR 7s May 14-15 in Kennesaw, Ga., endorsed by the USA Rugby College Council and run by entertainment company AEG in conjunction with the College Rugby Association of America (CRAA), and the May Madness 7s May 28-30 in New Orleans run by National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) and on CBS Sports Network, there are 12 (twelve!) major 7s championships.
May Madness has four men's brackets: Premier Cup, DI Club, DII, and Small College, and two women's brackets: Premier Cup and DI.
The National Collegiate Championships Rugby 7s (NCCR 7s) has six brackets as well, with DI, DII and D2/Open for men, and DI Elite/NIRA, DI Club, and DII for women. The two tournaments could have as many as 160 college teams.
And don't forget that ACRA will have its own Women's DII championships for eight teams.
How do they get there? A larger series of qualifiers and tournaments to bolster any invitational spots out there is springing up. We have put together a list of tournaments, but we know there are more. See the list below and please email us here to let us know if we missed you.
This coming weekend, the Chesapeake Rugby Conference holds its first event of the winter/spring, while Pitt hosts the Pitt Dome 7s.
Southern Virginia University hosts the Chesapeake Open Tournament #1 in Buena Vista, Va. JMU, Loyola-Maryland, Mary Washington, Mount St. Mary's, NC State, St. Joseph's, Southern Virginia, Virginia, UNC-Wilmington, VMI, and Virginia Tech are all slated to compete. This is a mixture of Chesapeake Conference teams and those from other conferences, both DI and DII.
That's the situation also at the Pitt Dome 7s, with Pitt, University at Buffalo, West Chester, IUP, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Wheeling all competing on a field inside one of those inflated dome coverings (because it's cold). The tournament is also raising funds to help the residents of Tonga rebuild after the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano and resulting tsunami.
Update: You see we knew there were a few more. The University of Colorado is hosting a relatively small but high-end tournament with the likes of Air Force, Denver University, Northern Colorado, and more.
Here is our list of college 7s tournaments this winter/spring season. Again, please let us know if you think we missed one.
| College 7s Tournaments Around the Country | |||
| Date | Event | Location | Division |
| 2/12 | Furman 7s | Greenville, SC | Men DI/DII |
| 2/19 | Colorado 7s | UC Boulder, CO | Men DI/DII |
| 2/19 | Chesapeake Tournament #1 (Open) | Buena Vista, Va. | Men DI |
| 2/19 | Pitt Dome 7s | Pittsburgh, Pa. | Men D1/DII |
| 2/26 | Chesapeake Tournament #2 (Open) | College Park Md. | Men DI |
| 2/26 | Southern Conference UNC-Wilmington | Wilmington, NC | Men DII |
| 2/26 | SCRC 7s Alabama | Tuscaloose, AL | Men DI |
| 3/19 | Virginia Tech 7s | Blacksburg, VA | Women DI |
| 3/26 | Chesapeake Tournament #3 (Open) | Emmitsburg, Md. | Men DI |
| 3/26 | Liberty Conference Tournament | Men DI | |
| 3/26 | Notre Dame Tournament | South Bend, Ind. | NCR CRC Qualifier |
| 3/26 | Southern Conference Furman | Greenville, NC | Men DII |
| 3/26 | Columbia, RPI, Hofstra & Fairfield. | Fairfield University | Women DII |
| 3/26 | USMMA, Fairfield, Hofstra & Maritime | SUNY Maritime | Men DII |
| 3/26 | Pac West 7s | Stanford U. CA | Men DIAA |
| 3/26 | WPU, Seton Hall, Drew & MSU | Drew | Men DII |
| 3/27 | Fordham, Molloy, Rutgers & UNH | Fordham | Women DII |
| 3/27 | Drew, MSU, SBU & Albany | Drew | Women DII |
| 3/27 | Marist, Vassar, New Paltz & Maritime | Vassar | Women DII |
| 3/27 | Marist, RPI, New Paltz, Vassar & Oneonta | Hudson Valley 7s | Men DII/DIII |
| 3/27 | Hilltop 7s | Philippi, WV | Women DI/DII |
| 4/2 | Big 10 Series-Illinois | U. Illinois | Men DI |
| 4/2 | Boise State Tournament | Boise, Idaho | NCR CRC Qualifier |
| 4/2 | New England Freejacks | Boston, Mass. | NCR CRC Qualifier (men) |
| 4/2 | Hofstra, Maritime, SBU & Molloy | Stony Brook | Women DII |
| 4/2 | Oneonta, New Paltz, Fairfield & Vassar | New Paltz | Men DIII |
| 4/2 | Lindenwood Qualifier | St. Charles, MO | Multiple |
| 4/2 | Bearcat 7s | U. Cincinnati | Men DI, DII |
| 4/3 | Marist, Fairfield, UNH & New Paltz | Hudson Valley South 7s | Women DII |
| 4/3 | Columbia, Rutgers, Fordham, Drew & MSU | Montclair State | Women DII |
| 4/3 | RPI, Albany Siena & Vassar (Hudson Valley North 7s) | UAlbany | Women DII |
| 4/3 | WPU, Marist, RPI, Seton Hall, USMMA | RPI | Men DII |
| 4/3 | Maritime, Hofstra, Drew & MSU | Hofstra | Men DII |
| 4/9 | Chesapeake Championships | Fredericksburg, Va. | Men DI |
| 4/9 | Liberty Conference Tournament | Men DI | |
| 4/9 | Life University | Marietta, Ga. | NCR CRC Qualifier |
| 4/9 | Southern Conference | East Carolina University | Men DII |
| 4/9 | Tri-State Conference 7s Championship | Fairfield University | Women DII |
| 4/9 | Iron Man 7s | Eau Claire, WI | GMW |
| 4/9 | Queens Cup 7s | Charlotte, NC | Women DI |
| 4/9 | Big 10 7s Series-Purdue | Purdue U. | Men DI |
| 4/10 | Chris Munn 7s | Northfield, Vt. (Norwich U.) | Men DII |
| 4/10 | Tri-State Conference 7s Championship | Hofstra | Men DII |
| 4/15-16 | Tropical 7s | Orlando, FL | U23s |
| 4/16 | Bloodfest 7s | Stevens Point, WI | GMW |
| 4/16 | Big 10 7s Series-Michigan | U. Michigan | Men DI |
| 4/17 | RPI, Hofstra, Drew & Vassar | Vassar | Men DII |
| 4/23-24 | Cherry Blossom Tournament | Washington DC | Several |
| 4/23 | Liberty Conference Tournament | Men DI | |
| 4/23 | MAC Conference Tournament | Men DI | |
| 4/23 | Southern Nazarene | Oklahoma City, Okla | NCR CRC Qualifier |
| 4/23 | Southern Conference Finals | Wake Forrest University | Men DII |
| 4/23 | Beast of the East Tournament | Portsmouth, RI | Men/Women |
| 4/23 | Gareth Jones 7s | College Station, Texas | |
| 4/23 | Wildcat 7s (TBC) | Evanston, IL | GMW |
| 4/24 | NEWCRC Championship | Men DII | |
| 4/24 | Beast of the East Tournament | Portsmouth, RI | Men/Women |
| 4/30 | New England Freejacks | Boston, Mass. | NCR CRC Qualifier (women) |
| 4/30 | Red River 7s | DIA | |
| 4/30 | Great Midwest 7s | Cottage Grove, WI | GMW |
| 5/1 | ACRA 7s Finals | TBD | Women DII ACRA |
| 5/14-15 | NCCR 7s | Kennesaw State, GA | Everyone |
| 5/28-30 | May Madness 7s | New Orleans, LA | Everyone |
