Atlantic Coast Rugby League


The Atlantic Coast Rugby League is an annual rugby union competition played every spring among eight universities—seven from the Atlantic Coast Conference, plus Navy.

Member schools

The current 8 member schools of the ACRL are below. Most schools are members of the ACC and joined the ACRL in its year of inception in 2011.
Navy was the first non-ACC member, and announced in 2012 it would be joining the ACRL for the 2013 season. The University of Maryland left the ACC to join the Big Ten Conference in July 2014.
InstitutionLocationEnrollmentNicknameVarsity
Sports		Rugby
Since		Head Coach
Clemson UniversityClemson, South Carolina20,576Tigers191967
College Park, Maryland37,641Terrapins201968
NavyAnnapolis, Maryland4,576Midshipmen301963Mike Flanagan
Chapel Hill, North Carolina29,340Tar Heels281966Pete Earsman
North Carolina StateRaleigh, North Carolina34,767Wolfpack251965Jim Latham
Charlottesville, Virginia20,895Cavaliers251961
Virginia TechBlacksburg, Virginia30,379Hokies211891 / 1968
Wake ForestWinston-Salem, North Carolina7,079Demon Deacons181973Patrick Kane

Former ACRL members

Organization of college rugby has been evolving since 2009, with many schools organizing into conferences similar to the traditional NCAA conferences. In November 2010, USARFU's college management committee set out a plan for transitioning universities to NCAA style conferences. The purpose of the realignment is for college rugby to capitalize on the marketability of major college conference rivalries.
The ACRL is one of the first college rugby conferences that re-aligned along traditional NCAA conference lines. In March 2010, eight of the twelve schools that participate in the NCAA's Atlantic Coast Conference announced that they had formed the Atlantic Coast Rugby League and would begin play in spring 2011.
The ACRL was formed to improve rugby in the Atlantic Coast universities by capitalizing on traditional ACC rivalries, increasing the number of fans, attracting talented high school rugby players, and playing other regional schools, which would both reduce travel and create more competitive matchups with traditional college rivalries.
The ACRL quickly gained commercial success. The ACRL announced in February 2011, before it had even begun its inaugural season, that it has partnered with Adidas as its corporate sponsor.

Leadership

Patrick Kane has served as the League Commissioner since the ACRL's founding in 2010. Kane also sits on USA Rugby's men's collegiate competition committee. Kane has been the Head Coach of the Wake Forest men's rugby team since 2004.

Results

YearChampionRunner UpThirdPlayer of the YearTop Try ScorerTop Points ScorerCoach of the Year
2011MarylandNorth CarolinaVirginiaMatias Cima
Alex Lee 		???
2012MarylandClemsonVirginia TechTrevor Tanifum
Amir Khan 		Trevor Tanifum
Amir Khan 		S. Friend Patrick Kane
2013 NavyClemsonVirginia TechR. Neel-Feller ??Justin Hickey
2013 ClemsonMarylandVirginiaMatias Cima ??Jon Roberts
2014

Maryland won the 2011 inaugural ACRL, defeating North Carolina 39-32 in the title match held at Charlotte RFC. Maryland, by virtue of its conference championship, qualified for the national playoffs, but lost to Florida in the Round of 16.
In the 2012 season, the championship was determined based on final table standings, rather than a championship match. Maryland repeated as champion, despite the loss early in the season of Matias Cima, their flyhalf and 2011 ACRL co-player of the year. Maryland and Clemson both finished with a 6-1 record, but Maryland won the league table due to the bonus point earned in its 19-22 loss to North Carolina State. Maryland, by virtue of its conference championship, qualified for the national playoffs, but lost to Tennessee in the Round of 16.
PointsTeam
5-1Maryland
6-0North Carolina
4-1Virginia
4-2Clemson
3-3Virginia Tech
2-4North Carolina State
1-4Wake Forest
1-5Georgia Tech
0-6Duke

PointsTeam
6-1Maryland
6-1Clemson
3-4Virginia Tech
4-3Wake Forest
4-3North Carolina
3-4North Carolina State
2-5Virginia
0-7Georgia Tech

PointsTeam
7-0Navy
6-1Clemson
4-2Virginia Tech
4-3Maryland
3-3North Carolina State
2-5Virginia
1-6North Carolina
0-7Wake Forest

PointsTeam
6-0Clemson
5-1Maryland
4-2Virginia
3-3Virginia Tech
1-5Wake Forest
1-5North Carolina
1-5North Carolina State

Notes:
The Atlantic Coast schools started moving in the direction of setting up their own conference in 2008, beginning with the Atlantic Coast Invitational tournament. The ACI tournament was co-founded by Andy Richards and by Patrick Kane. The ACI tournament is one of a number of college rugby tournaments that are tapping into the increased interest of sevens while also targeting traditional collegiate conference rivalries.
The Atlantic Coast Invitational tournament changed to a sevens format in 2010. The ACI was switched to a 7s tournament this season in response to 7s becoming an Olympic sport and in the wake of the success of the Collegiate Rugby Championship which was broadcast live by NBC.
The ACI tournament also experienced commercial success in 2010, landing USA Sevens as tournament sponsor.
Beginning in 2011, the winner of the Atlantic Coast Invitational has advanced to the USA Rugby National Championship. N.C. State won the ACI tournament in 2011 defeating Virginia 24-17 in the final.
YearLocationChampionFinal ScoreRunner UpTournament MVP
2008Raleigh, NCVirginia--Maryland--
2009Tallahassee, FLBoston College--North Carolina--
2010Greensboro, NCNorth Carolina State24-12North CarolinaWill Teague
2011Greensboro, NCNorth Carolina State24-17VirginiaBryan Maxwell
2012Virginia Beach, VAVirginia Tech33-31Virginia--
2013Navy57-0North Carolina St.--

Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby 7s Series

The Atlantic Coast Rugby League announced in March 2012 the creation of a new competition for member schools—the Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby 7s Series—to begin in the fall of 2012. The ACRL 7s Series consists of four one-day tournaments of 8-12 teams played at various ACRL venues throughout the fall of 2012. The Series leads up to the two-day Atlantic Coast Rugby 7s Championship played later in the fall. The ACRL's reasons for developing this series was due to the increasing popularity of rugby sevens throughout the United States since the 2009 announcement that rugby sevens would be added to the Olympics. Clemson head coach Justin Hickey believes that this new Rugby 7s Series gives the ACRL "the opportunity to set the standard on how Rugby 7s operates and competes at the collegiate level."
YearVirginia Tech 7sMaryland 7sAC Invitational 7s
2012Virginia Tech ;
NC State 		Kutztown ;
Navy 		Virginia Tech ;
Virginia