The Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference (SCRC) is an annual college rugby competition played every spring among 10 universities from the Southeastern Conference .
20-633: The SCRC was formed in December 2010 by a core group of founding schools — Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. By April 2011 the SCRC had expanded to 12 schools composed of the NCAA's Southeastern Conference (SEC). The conference is led by SCRC Commissioner Marty Bradley. The Southeastern Conference has enjoyed commercial success, announcing in October 2010, before conference play had even begun, that
40-454: A limited number of additional Division 1 schools. The winner of the HOA sevens tournament qualifies for the annual USA Rugby sevens national championship . The HOA sevens tournament is one of a number of college rugby tournaments that are tapping into the increased interest of rugby sevens while also targeting traditional collegiate conference rivalries. The HOA developed this competition due to
60-532: A spring event beginning with the 2014/2015 academic season. Tennessee won the inaugural 2010 Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Sevens Championship and currently has the most titles at two. Heart of America (college rugby) The Heart of America Rugby Football Union is a college rugby conference playing in Division I-AA, with membership composed mostly of Big 12 , Big Ten and SEC schools (and many of these schools enjoying longstanding rivalries from
80-469: Is an annual competition among the top men's college rugby teams in the country to decide a national champion in rugby sevens . USA Rugby organized the championship to capitalize on the surge in popularity of rugby sevens following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby to the Summer Olympics . USA Rugby recognized that rugby sevens is growing in popularity, participation and interest. At
100-492: The 2014 national D1-AA playoffs, the SCRC was represented by South Carolina, Georgia, and LSU. South Carolina beat Georgia 46–22 in the Round of 16, before falling 28–44 in the quarterfinals to eventual champions Central Florida. LSU lost in the Round of 16 to Central Florida by 19–50. The Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Sevens Championship was played every fall by universities from the southeastern United States until transitioning to
120-594: The Eastern Division to the Western Division to balance the divisions with five teams each. The following tables show the win–loss records of the various SCRC teams during conference play. The numbers in parentheses show that team's national ranking at the end of the season. In 2012, Florida beat Tennessee 22-14 at the championship match, held in Montgomery, Alabama, to win
140-481: The Premier College Division (Division I-A), several conferences including HOA decided to move up to Division I-AA. The HOA conference is led by Conference Commissioner Bill Sexton of Truman State University. The current member schools (and the date they joined the conference) are: Member notes: The HOA sevens tournament is played every fall among the eight members of the HOA conference and
160-589: The SCRC are in the table below. The SCRC includes 10 of the 14 SEC schools. The other four schools are Missouri and Arkansas (which play rugby in the Heart of America conference), and Texas A&M and LSU (which play rugby in the Red River Conference ). LSU was in the SCRC until 2014, but left before the 2015 season to join the Texas-based teams in the Red River Conference ; Florida switched from
180-503: The SCRC had formed commercial partnership agreements with Adidas and the World Rugby Shop. World Rugby Shop decided to sponsor the SCRC "because of the vision and potential of the league. Using established conference structures and rivalries is the future of the college rugby game in the U.S. and the SCRC will tap into a rich tradition of Southern rivalries at the major Southeastern Universities." The current 10 member schools of
200-469: The former Big Eight Conference ). HOA organizes a league competition with the winner qualifying for the national playoffs, and every fall hosts a rugby sevens tournament with the winner qualifying for the national sevens championships. Heart of America was a Division 2 conference until 2011, with Arkansas and Missouri ranked among the top teams in Division 2. In summer 2011, however, with the creation of
220-474: The inaugural SCRC title. Florida (#2 East) had beaten LSU (#1 West) 35-17 in one semifinal, while Tennessee (#1 East) had defeated Alabama (#2 West) 31-22 in the other semifinal. In the 2013 semifinals, Tennessee (#1 East) defeated Ole Miss (#2 West) 36-32, and South Carolina (#2 East) defeated LSU (#1 West) 36-28. The final featured Tennessee defeating South Carolina 46-34. In the 2014 spring semifinals, South Carolina (#1 East) defeated Auburn (#2 West) 41–5. In
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#1732790570512240-716: The increasing popularity of rugby sevens throughout the United States, particularly since the 2009 announcement adding rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics , and in the wake of the success of the Collegiate Rugby Championship rugby sevens tournament broadcast live on NBC every year. | April 20, 2024 || align=center| Iowa City, IA || align=center| Nebraska ||align=center| 41-0|| align=center| Iowa State || align=center| Minnesota |} USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships The USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships
260-496: The location. Those mid-December dates were in the middle of exams for some schools. College Station, Texas, was ultimately announced as the venue in November. College Station lacks direct flight to many major cities, and this problem was compounded by the decision to hold the tournament over a Friday and Saturday, requiring students to miss both a Thursday and Friday. For these reasons, many colleges that qualified or were invited to
280-413: The other semifinal, LSU (#1 West) defeated Florida (#2 East) 54–27, marking the first time that a team from the Western Division reached the final. South Carolina defeated LSU in the final 41–24. In the 2014 fall semifinals, South Carolina (#2 East) defeated Mississippi State (#1 West) 55–7. In the other semifinal, Alabama (#2 West) defeated Tennessee (#1 East) 37–25 in overtime, marking the first time that
300-550: The round of 32. Tennessee received an at large bid to the 2012 Division 1-AA playoffs due to the strength of the Southeast Conference; in the national playoffs, Tennessee defeated Maryland 47–13 and Florida State 45–27 to reach the quarterfinals. Tennessee and South Carolina both reached the 2013 national D1-AA playoffs. Both fell in the Round of 16 — Tennessee fell 17–30 to eventual champions Central Florida, and South Carolina lost 7–29 to in-state rival Clemson. In
320-557: The time of the foundation of the tournament, rugby was one of the fastest growing sports across college campuses. This tournament is a major contributor to the selection process for USA Rugby Olympic athletes. USA Rugby announced in September 2011 the creation of a new sevens tournament. The launch by USA Rugby had a few hiccups. USA Rugby did not officially announce the December 16–17, 2011 tournament and its dates until September 2011, and at that time USA Rugby had still not determined
340-439: The top seed from the Eastern Division did not reach the final. South Carolina defeated Alabama in the final 50–22. In the 2015 semifinals, South Carolina (#2 East) defeated Alabama (#1 West) 34–27, and Tennessee (#1 East) defeated Florida 30–13. Tennessee defeated South Carolina in the final 23–22. Florida qualified for the 2012 Division 1-AA playoffs by virtue of its Southeast Conference championship, but lost to Florida State in
360-437: The tournament—such as Penn State, UCLA, Utah, BYU, Boston College, Navy, LSU, Iowa, Dartmouth, Delaware, Cal, and Bowling Green—declined to participate. The inaugural 2011 tournament was contested by 24 teams that qualified based on performance in qualifying tournaments throughout the fall of 2011. The 2011 tournament was won by Life University, defeating Central Washington 22–17 in overtime. Tim Stanfill of Central Washington
380-582: Was held in May — unlike previous tournaments which had been held in December. The tournament took place in Denver over the weekend of May 23–24, less than one week before the 2015 Collegiate Rugby Championship in Philadelphia. Once again, several top teams did not play: BYU, California, Life University, and UCLA. Sources: The following rugby sevens tournaments, played throughout the fall season preceding
400-484: Was the tournament MVP, and Derek Patrick of Miami was the tournament's leading try scorer. The 2012 tournament was more organized, with only one team - UCLA - declining to participate in the tournament. The 2012 tournament also saw increased airtime, with the entire tournament available live via webstream and some of the knockout rounds broadcast on ESPN3. For the 2013 tournament, three teams—Cal, BYU, and UCLA—won bids but declined to participate. The 2015 tournament
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