College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the auspices of the NCAA and are instead governed by National Collegiate Rugby and USA Rugby, two nationwide governing bodies. 27 women's programs participate in the NCAA.

College rugby is the fastest growing college sport in the US and one of the fastest growing sports in the nation as the number of athletes increased by roughly 350% from 18,500 in 2006 to 65,000 in 2010.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} Women's rugby is an NCAA Emerging Sport.^[1] Over 900 college teams—male and female—are registered with USA Rugby and hundreds more with National Collegiate Rugby.^[9] Over 32,000 college players are registered with USA Rugby, making college rugby the largest section of its membership.^[10]

The highest profile college rugby sevens competition is the Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC). College club rugby has included several championship competitions since 1980.

Rugby has been played in universities since as early as the 1800s, but in the 1960s rugby found a foothold in colleges, led by Catholic colleges such as Notre Dame and particularly Jesuit universities such as Boston College and St. Joseph's in Philadelphia.^[11] Several schools have upgraded their investments in rugby by creating programs with varsity or quasi-varsity status and funding for scholarships.^[12]

Alumni from collegiate programs make up much of the United States men's and women's national teams.

Major League Rugby implemented its first collegiate MLR Draft in 2020. Players are eligible for the draft after 3 years in college at 21 years old. Free agents can join teams at age 18.^{[13][14][15][16]}

The College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) oversees the top-level men's and women's divisions.^[17][18]

27 schools govern their women's teams under applicable NCAA bylaws for recruiting and eligibility, under the NCAA's Emerging Sports for Women program. The NCAA has no authority over men's college rugby.

College rugby is often called a club sport because teams are usually administered by a student club sports department rather than the intercollegiate athletics department. Some schools promoted rugby to varsity status, committing resources for scholarships and paid coaches, or given rugby an elevated status short of full varsity status.

In the United States, college rugby was traditionally governed by (in descending order of authority): USA Rugby, geographical unions (GUs) and local area unions (LAUs) (e.g., NERFU) and administered by a College Management Committee.^[19]

The Ivy Rugby Conference formed in 2009.^[20] This move signaled a shift away from the LAUs and GUs as the governing bodies for regional college rugby. By 2011 USA Rugby was urging college rugby programs to adopt new conference structures like the conferences used by their other athletic programs. In 2019, in the wake of USA Rugby's bankruptcy declaration, the College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) formed to oversee the top-level men's and women's divisions.^[17][18]

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Winter and spring are the primary seasons for conferences in the Pacific, Northwest, and South regions (e.g., PAC, Southeastern); the fall is the primary season for conferences in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Upper Midwest (e.g., Big Ten, Atlantic Coast). Conferences establish playing schedules in the primary season, while in the secondary season the teams often set up friendly matches or focus on playing rugby sevens.

USA Rugby maintains player eligibility guidelines, administered by the local area unions. College players generally have five years of rugby eligibility from the time they graduate high school.^{[citation needed]} On-field disciplinary issues are generally handled by the local area unions, while off-field disciplinary issues are governed by the academic institution and the local area union. USA Rugby's CIPP insurance program provides liability insurance to players, teams, administrators, and pitch hosts in exchange for an annual dues payment. Roughly one quarter of college rugby programs offer financial aid to their players.^[21]

Outstanding college rugby players are recognized as All-Americans.^[22] Qualified All-Americans can represent the United States in international tournaments by playing on the United States national under-20 rugby union team or the All Americans rugby union team.

College rugby competition in the USA is divided into several tiers:

• The highest is Division I-A for men and Division I Elite for women
• Division I-AA for men and Division I for women
• Division II
• Small College
• The separate National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) consists of women's NCAA DI, II and III rugby programs that adhere to NCAA organizational rules under a sanctioning agreement with USA Rugby.^[23]

USA Rugby generally allows colleges to select the division in which the college thinks it would fit best. Most schools remain in the same division from year-to-year, but there are exceptions. Schools that have been successful in a particular division may move up but are not required to do so; likewise, poorly performing schools may move down a division, but are not required to. Successful schools may have varied reasons for declining promotion. For example, a school may prefer to remain in its current conference against traditional rivals, or a school with a small budget might resist the additional travel expense that might come from switching divisions and conferences.

Significant movement across men's divisions occurred in 2011 when USA Rugby separated Division I into Division I-A and I-AA.^[24] This new arrangement caused Division I schools to choose one or the other, with 31 schools joining Division I-A and the majority of Division I schools joining Division I-AA.^[24] Additionally, the creation of Division I-AA caused several successful Division II schools to move up to Division I-A. The evolving division structures caused significant shifts in schools between Divisions I-A and I-AA in the following years, with half of the original 31 D I-A members leaving by the end of 2013, and new schools from lower divisions taking their place.^[24]

The governance of collegiate rugby was split and diverged in 2021. The umbrella of the USA Rugby Collegiate Council includes College Rugby Association of America (CRAA), American Collegiate Rugby Association (ACRA), American College Rugby (ACR), and independent conferences.^[23] National Collegiate Rugby (NCR), formerly NSCRO, challenged the existing structure and expanded beyond small colleges to include the higher divisions. Men's and women's conferences each chose as individual conferences (in some cases, schools within conferences also chose^[23]) to align with USA Rugby or NCR.

Since the 2009 announcement that rugby sevens will be included in the 2016 Olympics, college rugby sevens has grown more popular. The addition of Rugby 7s to the 2016 Summer Olympics has led to increasing interest from TV and other media coverage, and an increased emphasis in the collegiate ranks on the 7s game. For example, the University of Texas founded its competitive rugby sevens program in 2010.^[122] Cal rugby announced in December 2011 that beginning in 2013 it would use the fall term for sevens.^[123]

Team rankings are in parentheses, based on Goff Rugby Report rankings, current as of January 2017.^[150]

American college rugby is governed by USA Rugby. In the past, college rugby competitions have been governed by local unions.

The structure of the college game has evolved significantly in recent years. To increase the marketability of the game, many traditional rivals have been consolidated into conferences resembling major NCAA conferences such as the Pac-12 and Big Ten.^{[156][157][158]}

Beginning around 2010, college rugby programs began realigning into conference structures that mirror the traditional NCAA conferences used by the member schools' other athletic programs. The first high-profile example was the formation of the Ivy League Rugby Conference in 2010.^[20] Following the organization of the Ivy League schools, the members of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference followed suit in 2010.

College rugby includes rivalry trophies such as the World Cup between the University of California, Berkeley and the University of British Columbia (Canada),^[163] the Wasatch Cup between BYU and Utah,^[164] the University Cup between Texas and Texas A&M,^[165] the Koranda Cup between Yale and Princeton,^[166] and the Common Wealth Shield between Virginia and Virginia Tech.^[167]

The ACRC Bowl Series championship 15s tournament took place annually for three years from 2014 until 2016. College conference champions and select elite sides participated. The tournament provided an opportunity for teams to play outside of their conferences and was therefore relevant to establishing final fall 15s college rankings.^[168]

Until 2021, Division II was solely governed by USA Rugby.

Small College Rugby, formerly known as Division III, is governed by the National Collegiate Rugby Organization, formerly the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO). In 2020, NSCRO re-branded as National Collegiate Rugby. The National Small College Rugby Organization was created to give a competitive outlet to small colleges which would not otherwise have an opportunity to compete on a national stage. Each year, the NSCRO hosts rugby tournaments for Men's and Women's college teams, and during 2006–2011 it also conducted a Division IV Women's college tournament.

In the US, college rugby has much higher injury rates than college football. Rugby union has similar injury types to American football but with more common injuries of arms.^[222]

• MLR Draft
• Major League Rugby
• College athletics
  • College football
  • College basketball
  • College baseball
  • College ice hockey
  • College soccer in the United States
  • College lacrosse
• Intercollegiate sports team champions
• Concussions in rugby union
• Rugby union in the United States
• History of rugby union in the United States