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The USA Rugby Women’s U23 All-Star 15s Championship will be held January 8-10, 2027, in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area. It’s a date shift for the event, which has been held in mid-to-late June since 2022. Details on field location, participating regions, etc., are forthcoming, so stay tuned. [lead photo: Midwest U23s’ Maddie Hubbell / Jasun Blocher]
“The date change fits better in the [high performance] calendar and allows this event to be a prime selection venue for summer competitions,” explained Martha Daines, USA Rugby Women’s Head of Player Systems and Development.
The date move makes sense in that there was little time between identifying players from the U23 all-star tournament in June and readying them for age grade fixtures in the summer. Now, USA Pathways can evaluate players during that general winter break time period, invite them to age grade camps, and provide a runway for clearing summer schedules for potential selections.
Teams were informed of the impending date shift during the summer, so there is awareness among returners. However, few conferences and regions have publicly announced plans for tryouts, travel, etc. The Pacific Grizzlies are an exception. The region has a Pacific Northwest camp and tryout on Oct. 18 in Lacey, Wash., and a general placeholder for NorCal tryouts in November.
The date shift does favor College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) and National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) leagues and teams, as National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) holds its national 7s and 15s all-star competitions on Jan. 15-17 at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Fla. CRAA leagues generally start in the new year, making players available, and NIRA ends its season on Nov. 21.
NCR makes up the majority of women’s college players in the country and contests its championship 15s season in the fall, culminating in early December nationals. NCR conferences have their structures in place for building toward the annual, mid-January all-star event. Obviously, it would make sense to combine the USA Rugby and NCR tournaments to see the widest swath of players interested in next-level play.
Being a U23 event, it is open to USA Club Rugby players as well, but the conflict isn’t as tense as in the collegiate realm. The Mary Graham All-Star 15s Tournament is in early December and the rugby activity is relatively low in that early-January time frame. Mary Graham is also held in Texas.
More information to come as it is confirmed.