The Collegiate Rugby Championship 7s event is back and under the aegis of National Collegiate Rugby.

NCR acquired the rights to the CRC tournament, name, and intellectual property and through NCR 7s Commissioner Pat Clifton has been developing how to bring the CRC competition back. 

It's a popular tournament among college 7s teams, and so getting teams to want to play does not look to be an issue. Tee key issue was finding a host venue, and today CRC confirmed it had chosen New Orleans. With the city having a solid rugby tradition and serving as an attractive destination  for travelers, New Orleans also had a good rugby venue in NOLA Gold's Gold Mine on Airline.

The opportunity to bring the CRC to the great city of New Orleans and partner with a fantastic MLR franchise like NOLA Gold is tremendous,” said NCR CEO Jeremy Treece.

“New Orleans has everything fans, players, referees and coaches could need or want, great hotels, food, historic places to visit, and one of the best rugby stadiums in the country. It’s going to be a great event.”

The CRC is set for May 29-31 with 32 men's teams and 16 women's teams hoped for. You can apply to compete, and if your team has school approval to play then you can apply. The link to apply is here>>

There is also a 10-a-side tournament, an alumni tournament, and a high school event. 

Check out this huge announcement! The 2021 Collegiate Rugby Championship will be played May 29-31 in New Orleans at the Gold Mine on Airline, home of MLR @nolagoldrugby
Get your team signed up today!#NCRProud #CRChttps://t.co/zzKlNXQMgD pic.twitter.com/hyPEERoPT4

— National Collegiate Rugby (@ncrrugby) March 22, 2021

Getting this CRC back off the ground was in part a function of relationships—Clifton worked at United World Sports, which ran the old CRC, and was a good connection with former UWS reps on acquiring rights to the event. It was also a function of what NCR wants to be. NCR is looking to be the go-to collegiate oversight organization, and producing a major 7s tournament with the name recognition of the CRC is one way to go about it.

Now the question is whether they can learn from some of the lessons of the original CRC,