National Collegiate Rugby has confirmed its major postseason and tournament dates for the 2024-25 year.

Houston's Aveva Stadium has been the home of NCR 15s championships for the last several years and will be the venue once again for the fall of 2024.

The NCR Women's 15-a-side championship finals are set for December 7 and 8 in Houston.

Leading the way there is the University of Michigan, which has won the last two women's D1 championships, beating Notre Dame College in the process. With NDC as an institution now having closed its doors, many of the NDC players have shifted to kick-start the Walsh University program in North Canton, Ohio. While the Wolverines are two-time champs, Head Coach Jamie Frech will have to replace some key drivers of those championship runs. 

The Running Wolverine: Ember Larson

Meanwhile, the addition of the teams that competed for the CRAA Women's fall championship in 2023-24, such as Northeastern, UConn, and the teams from the Rocky Mountain Conference, make this as wide open a championship as there has been in some years.

The D2 and D3 (formerly small-college) brackets will be much more of a crapshoot as player graduations make a big difference each year. Vassar is strong every year Wisconsin-Eau Claire both have shown staying power, with Eau Claire winning their second straight. St. Bonaventure won the small college final.

Michigan, Eau Claire, St. Bonaventure Win NCR Women Championships

The NCR Men's 15s Championships are set for December 13-15, also in Houston

Notre Dame College capped an excellent season with their NCR playoff win last year, defeating 2021-22 winners St. Bonaventure in the final. NDC has transferred its program to Walsh University after Notre Dame College as an institution closed its doors. NDC and SBU are both expected to challenge in D1, as will 2022-23 winners Brown, and runners-up Queens. There hasn't been a significant shift in who is competing where in the D1 bracket, but expect Dartmouth, Siena, and Indiana to make pushes. Lurking out west is Southern Nazarene and they might well be a dark horse. The Big Rivers Conference may well go deeper into the playoffs this coming year.

In D1AA Kentucky is the defending champion—Aggressive Start First Kentucky to Win in NCR D1AA Final—but this is a division with all sorts of questions regarding contenders. Several teams in the SCRC and MAC. And don't forget MARC, Liberty, or Southern conferences. While those conferences have technically not had a NCR D1AA champion in the few years NCR has run this division, MARC team Virginia Tech won it twice when they were in the Rugby East.

IUP beat Memphis in the fall of 2023 but the Hawks are graduating some key players. How they rebound will be interesting, and that throws the division into some flux. Can Memphis, 2023-24 runners-up, make the next step? Great Midwest teams used to be default contenders—are they still? Will the MARC teams have staying power?

IUP Caps Comeback to Win DII

And in small college, Babson is nicely-placed to win another one as many of there starting players return. But not all, so of course there is an opening. And remember, Babson just barely escaped their quarterfinal against Endicott. Getting out o the Northeast is pretty tough. Wayne State still has their sights set on a championship and they came awfully close in 2023-24. 

Watch out for some of the school-supported programs withing what is now D3. They have that backing that could make this bracket what D2 was a few years ago.