Photo courtesy Alderson Broaddus athletics
The National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) has increased its membership to 22 with the addition of Alderson Broaddus University (Philippi, W.V.) and Manhattanville College (Purchase, N.Y.) to the 2020 season.
NIRA is home to the NCAA women’s varsity rugby programs across the country, and will remain so until the sport achieves NCAA championship status. That distinction will be made where NIRA has 40 schools that support and field varsity women’s rugby programs. This week, Manhattanville College announced that it is elevating the status of its current club program to varsity and recruiting a head coach and student-athletes for DIII play in fall 2020. Read more.
Alderson Broaddus hired former Eagle and Life University assistant coach Laura Miller in 2018 and charged the men’s and women’s head coach to build the teams from scratch. The Battlers currently compete in NSCRO but will transition to NIRA DIII in the fall. The men’s team operates as a varsity program on campus but men’s rugby is not eligible for NCAA championship status. Read more.
NIRA’s championship season occurs in the fall and is 15s only. There is flexibility for teams to a play spring 7s schedule, but there is no 7s championship.
For more information on NIRA, click here.