Which US colleges and Universities have rugby as a collegiate sport ?

Question

Hey, im a senior in highschool and wanna try something else than american football, which ive played since I could remember. Is it possible that someone could give me the names of the universities and colleges in the USA that offer rugby as a collegiate sport. I wanna further myself to oneday become part of the USA Eagles team. I mean, rugby in the USA is growing at such an enormous pace now that we could one day even compete against rugby giants like Australia, England and the all-time favourite - South Africa AKA The Springboks who to my personal opinion is going to win the 2007 RWC ! Couldnt we get Jake White to come and give us all some pointers ? Im sure we would wanna see the USA Eagles win the RWC in say 2011 or 2015. BUT GET ME THE NAMES OF THOSE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES THAT OFFER RUGBY AS A SPORT !

Answer 1

Rugby has just been introduced into colleges as a NCAA sport, but it has started at the women's varsity level (and right now there are only 4 colleges). Previously all rugby in college was club play. i'm not current with all the teams- if there are men's college NCAA teams- but they arent listed on the usa website. Go to the usarugby.org site and you'll see a college club listed on the left menu- if you click it, it will take you to a page that lists where you can find some scholarships. i didnt see a list of colleges- but just about every college has club rugby. if theres a school youre interested in, just search the school's club sports online and you should be able to tell if theres a team there.

the usa eagles begins looking at players that make it to national playoffs... some ways to be considered are by trying out for your regional U23 team (under 23) and if you are young enough, theres a u-19 team as well. they seperate the USA into regional unions and then you must try out for these teams. for example- i live in charleston, SC- i belong to the palmetto union and my region is the south- each region holds try-outs to go to nationals. from there a national u-19 and u-23 and mens and womens teams are chosen. Eagles scouts are there as well. you'll have to do some reserach depending on where you end up- but your coaches will probably know how to get you into u-19 and u-23 try-outs! FYI the youngest player ever to play in rugby world cup is 19 yrs and from the USA! (Thretton Palamo)

Good Luck! its a great sport and you'll make the best friends of your life playing rugby! have a blast (wishing i could start all over again... with a young body and the advancements in the sport in our country!)