Rugby seasons in the U.S. run from September to August, generally, and do not follow the calendar year. So running a “Best of 2024” list doesn’t really fit, as it straddles two different seasons. Nevertheless, there are neat fall, spring and summer seasons that provide good segmenting, and the following highlights the The Rugby Breakdown’s favorite moments of the second half of 2024 — August through December, generally. For first-half-of-the-year review, read TRB’s top moments of 2023-24, which of course feature major accomplishments in the U.S. girls and women’s space.

What’s Next? See TRB’s 2025 Calendar 

There’s no particular order to the following but one item does deserve to be first: the bronze medal effect. TRB talked about Team USA winning an Olympic medal in the 2023-24 roundup, but this fall has allowed the rugby community to really observe its impact. So many interview subjects this fall credited the Eagles’ triumphs in Paris with increased numbers at training this past season.

 

In that same breath, subjects also credited Ilona Maher, who is an item all on her own. She won hearts on Dancing With The Stars, admirers whilst gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated, and devotees while championing beast-beauty-brains across the airwaves. She has brought visibility to U.S. rugby from outside the sporting world like no one before her. And she’s taken that power overseas, signing with the Bristol Bears in the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) 15s competition in England. As she readies herself for 15s Rugby World Cup consideration, the Bears are adjusting to her star power — selling out games, moving to bigger stadiums, and rushing to fill merchandise orders.

 

How does the U.S. harness that momentum? Premier Rugby 7s (PR7s) did a good job of answering that question, and in record speed produced the first-ever PR7s All-Star tournament in Portland, Ore. On Nov. 17, the pro organization pit medal-winning Olympians, national team players and PR7s luminaries against each other, and knit those games together with exhibition matches between local high school, college and senior club teams. It was a fabulous event both inside Providence Park and around it (the girls’ HS free clinic drew ~90 players). Rumor has it that the event will be reproduced in the summer. TRB’s take on Portland.

 

The PR 7s event was the perfect primer for the 2025 HSBC SVNS series, which featured many of the same U.S. stars who played in Portland. After the relatively young team finished 5th in Dubai, the Eagles traveled to South Africa for the second leg of the series. The team advanced to the 3rd place match against the Aussies, and that showdown marked the first time these teams had seen each other since the bronze medal match in Paris. With no time on the clock, Nia Toliver scored the game-winner to secure the win. Toliver scored six tries in Dubai and seven tries in Cape Town.

 

Domestically, Scion was the big winner in 7s, and the 2024 USA Club Rugby national championship title was significant in that the D.C.-based program had to abstain from the 2023 event (conflicts with pro designations). Despite those recent disappointments, Scion founder Joanne Liu talked about the program’s loyalty and responsibility to the U.S. game, and traveled to Madison,Wis., for its fourth-ever 7s national title. Autumn LoCicero, who is now a USA 7s resident and HSBC SVNS-capped Eagle, was named championship MVP.

So, yes, that was a lot of 7s attention for a part of the year that is typically rich in 15s, but the rest of this recap is dedicated to the traditional format of the game …

This Women’s Premier League (WPL) season shifted to align with international fixtures and so the playoffs were contested in the first half of September. So just as all the fall-based 15s teams were building momentum, they could take some inspiration from the top-notch championship rugby being played in Wisconsin (semis) and North Carolina (final). The WPL National Championship was branded as the “Legacy Cup,” and it linked the foundation of the WPL to the launch of Women’s Elite Rugby (WER), the new pro league. And the finalists could not have played a more intense and thrilling match to honor the occasion. The Colorado Gray Wolves ended up winning 31-27 against the Berkeley All Blues, and did so with a driving maul off an attacking lineout. Just brilliance. [At year’s end, WER coaches announced their “foundational five.“]

 

Coincidentally, a driving maul off the lineout played a pivotal role in the NIRA Division I 15s final. Harvard University and Dartmouth College met in the NCAA varsity title match for the second-straight year, but as pack captain Carly Lehman explained, the Crimson wasn’t thinking about repeating as it built through the fall. Instead, Harvard focused on finding and leaning into its strengths, and one of those strengths — thanks to Mauling Mondays — was the drive off the lineout. Lehman herself dotted down what ended up being the winning points in the 19-12 victory against Dartmouth. The DII match was equally thrilling, with American International College rallying from a deficit to beat 2023 champ Davenport. AIC head coach T Fletcher relived the build to the Yellow Jackets’ second-ever DII title. Both NIRA trophies now reside in Massachusetts.

 

The National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) holds its women’s 15s national championships the first weekend in December, and 12 teams reported to Houston for the DI final, DII semis/final, DIII semis/final, and DI Lone Star Bowl. All three divisions named new champions. DI featured Wheeling University (W.V.) and Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) — two programs that enjoy an elevated status within their athletics departments. The Cardinals put in a round performance and beat the Crimson Storm 58-17. No. 8 Alexis Dallas was named championship MVP. •  DII and DIII are doubleheaders, with semifinals on Saturday and finals on Sunday. In DII, the 2023 finalists returned to the 2024 trophy match, and Vassar College banked a retributive win, 24-5, against UW Eau Claire for the title. Fullback Jude Robinson was named MVP. The closest final occurred in DIII, as Endicott College had just enough to get past Colorado School of Mines 22-15. Senior captain Tess Merrill was named MVP. • NCR holds a Bowl game as well, and DI University of Iowa traveled to Texas to face DI Univ. Texas in an 72-5 win.

 

Lots of high school rugby occurs in the fall and outside of Michigan (champion: Rockford HS) and Wisconsin (champion: DSHA), most of the action is 7s. Some spring-based teams have begun to link together in an effort to play more 15s outside of their regular seasons, and so the West Region 15s was born. The first leg was played in Salt Lake City in mid-October and featured hosts Majestics and United from Utah, Belmont Shore from SoCal, and the San Mateo Wolverines. In a rematch of the High School Club 15s National Tournament match, Belmont Shore beat the Majestic 19-14. “[T]his is what we’ve been waiting for since nationals,” Majestics captain Marley Larkin said of the high-level competition. The series picks up on Jan. 18 in Long Beach, Calif., and has drawn a Hawaiian team, too. The NorCal leg will occur in February 2025.

 

The USA Women’s National Team (WNT) competed in the WXV 1 this fall and went 0-3 against England (61-21), France (22-14) and Ireland (26-14). Against Ireland, Eagle prop Hope Rogers earned her 50th cap, only the second WNT player to do so, the first being Jamie Burke (51 caps). Rogers celebrated the occasion with an even more stellar performance than normal — “normal” being “extraordinary” — and scored the team’s two tries. An inspiration.

 

 

There is a good amount of senior club rugby happening in the fall, and Empire, New England and the Midwest use that time to name their respective champions. Worcester is the standout. Having lost its regular-season games to Providence (#1) and Albany (#2), the Shamrocks entered the DII NERFU postseason as #3 seed. In consecutive weekends, Worcester posted single-digit wins against Albany (45-43) in the semifinals and then Providence (28-27) in the final. Stay tuned for an interview with head coach Everett Sullivan, pack captain Samantha Dickie and backs captain Haley Taddeo.

 

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WHAT’S NEXT?

It may feel like the off-season but there is plenty to entertain in the very near future. On Jan. 17-19, it’s the Annual WRCRA Conference in Denver — the event’s westernmost location since 2017 — which has extended early-bird registration until Dec. 31. The NCR All-Star 7s Tournament in Georgia is the following weekend (Jan. 25-26) and kicks off the college 7s season. And then the WER pro 15s competition is meant to take life in Feburary/March — among so many other happenings! See TRB’s Rugby Calendar for an ever-populating list of events.