University of Michigan (W)
The University of Michigan Women's Rugby Football Club, a Division 1 club affiliated with USA Rugby, aims to become an elite rugby program in the Midwest and a premier club sport within Michigan Athletics. The team recently joined the newly-formed Division I Big Ten conference and will compete in the Big Ten East division against Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State.
In January, the UMWRFC became one of 12 women’s teams invited to the 2015 CRCs in Philadelphia. In the lead up to competing on a national stage in May, the team is hosting the inaugural Wolverine Women’s 7s tournament in April.
The UMWRFC was founded in 1980. They are coached by Fred Keeling, Kelly McMahon and Stuart Roche.
Michigan Rugby Team Statement April 2015
The University of Michigan Women's Rugby Football Club is a D1 program playing in the Big 10 Conference. We started playing 15s rugby in 1980, but have only only been playing 7s for 3 years. Though we are a young team, we have a strong senior presence, and hope to use our experience to our advantage. That being said, we also have a lot of new, young girls who are excited and hungry about the game.
Overall, we expect to be strong contenders in our sevens play and hope to become a prominent team, especially as rugby is growing in popularity in the U.S. We will be participating in our first sevens play April 11, 2015 at the Notre Dame College 7s tournament, and will be hosting our own 7s tournament (Wolverine Women's 7s) the following Saturday. We've also been invited to the Collegiate Rugby Championships in Philadelphia and will be practicing hard and playing as much 7s as possible in preparation.
This past fall 15s season we pulled even, with four wins and four losses. We've been in the process of looking for a new head coach, and our leadership has had to work together to fill in that role. The rest of our coaching staff has also stepped up and have reorganized their schedules to make sure that we stay a well structured, competitive team. We've been in the top four of the B10 for the last few years, and hope to become a more dominant power in the future.
