A pair of powerhouse clubs out of Atlanta took the first Southern Conference 7s qualifier this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. The Atlanta Harlequins defeated Phoenix Rugby (Florida), 19-17 in the Music City 7s Women's Final, while Old White defeated an emerging Southern Pines side, 34-21 in the Men's Final. 

Summer Club 7s is here!
 
Looking to play Club 7s this summer? Don’t forget to properly enroll your team and/or tournament today!
 
The USA Rugby Emirates Airline Club 7s National Championship is the premier domestic sevens tournament, and was the launching point for over half of the Olympians in Rio 2016 and many Eagles to get on the national radar, including standouts such as Perry Baker, Martin Iosefo, Ben Pinkelman, Kelly Griffin, Kathryn Johnson, Jessica Javelet, Taku 'Zee' Ngwenya, and many more!
 
USAClub7s.com is the home of all summer Club 7s news and information, including:
 
2018 Rules & Regulations
 
2018 Team Enrollment Form
 
2018 USA Rugby Club 7s Rugby Player Information Form
 
2018 Club 7s Team Checklist
 
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List of 2018 Qualifying & Approved Tournaments
 
2018 USA Rugby Club 7s Qualifying Tournament Enrollment Form
 
2018 USA Rugby Club 7s Approved Tournament for Player Eligibility Application Form
 
Additionally, if you’re a men’s club, don’t forget to sign-up for one of the Men’s Open Tournament events on the weekend of June 30. Winners of these tournaments, held in San Francisco and Northern Virginia, qualify directly for the 2018 Club 7s National Championship! If successful, this pilot open-tournament concept will be extended to the women’s divisions in 2019.
 
A venue for the 2018 USA Rugby Emirates Airline Men’s & Women’s Club 7s National Championship event is expected to be announced no later than June 22, 2018.

AUSTIN, Texas -- May 24, 2018 -- Today, FloSports, the innovator in live sports and original content, announced the acquisition of The Rugby Channel from Rugby International Marketing (RIM). The deal immediately awards FloSports the rights to all matches previously under The Rugby Channel, bringing 51 new competitions annually to FloRugby.com and accelerating FloRugby's investment in growing the sport of rugby in the U.S. and globally.

Alongside the acquisition announcement, FloSports announced that World Rugby Hall of Famer Phaidra Knight will join FloRugby as a regular contributor, providing live commentary, columns, training and technique videos, and other content to the site.

In addition, FloRugby will provide extended exclusive access to USA Rugby, giving fans all new ways to keep up with their favorite players and teams. FloRugby's enhanced coverage starts with a collection of exclusive content featuring several Team USA stars, including Men's Eagle, Mike Te'o; current Women's 7s star Kelsi Stockert, Team USA Olympian Joanne Fa'avesi; former captain of the USA U19 team and current San Diego Legion, Cam Dolan; former USA U20 team captain and MVP, Hanco Germishuys; powerful hooker and current Austin Elite-front rower, Peter Malcolm; and Rudy Scholz Award winner, USA Eagle and current Glendale Raptor, Bryce Campbell.

​Lafayette, Colo. – Thirty-one qualifying tournaments will determine the 32 men’s and women’s teams participating in the 2018 USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship, USA Rugby announced on Monday.
 
“We’ve seen a tremendous energy behind the 7s restructure so far,” noted Erik Geib, USA Rugby’s Club Dept. Manager. “Last year had 47 tournaments, which the group [the 7s Working Group of the Performance Game Board] thought was far too many. It’s a goal of those passionately involved in the sevens game to up the quality of play, and it’s believed that will be accomplished by having teams play each other in higher-quality events.”
 
To further aid the goal of producing higher-quality events, the men’s eastern and western open qualifiers have also been awarded, with Northern Virginia Rugby (NOVA) hosting the Eastern Open at Morven Park in Leesburg, VA, and the Northern California GU hosting the Western Open at San Francisco Golden Gate’s Ray Sheeran Field facility on Treasure Island in San Francisco, CA. Northern Virginia is one of the most successful clubs in Club 7s history, appearing in the finals event 19 times (tied for second-most all-time) – including a championship in 1996. Treasure Island is also no stranger to 7s, having hosted the Club 7s finals event 5 times (2008-2012) as well as numerous Northern California qualifiers and high-quality collegiate events.

​LAFAYETTE, COLO. – After the launch of the Performance Game Board in 2017, changes are now underway in the performance 7s competition landscape thanks to the hard work of the 7s working group created by the board.
 
"The 7's working group on the Performance Game Board was tasked with looking at potential improvements to all aspects of domestic Club 7s and following are the recommendations,” said Steve Lewis, 7s working group chair. “We believe that the new qualification process on the men’s side will deliver the most competitive tournament possible, showcasing more of the country's best teams and players, and that the eligibility changes will simplify life for players, coaches and administrators alike"
 
With that in mind, the group – comprised of 7s specialists such as Lewis, Chris Ryan, Howard Kent, Joanne Liu, Patrick McNally, and Erik Geib – have announced their first round of proposed changes to the 7s senior competition format.

Starting in 2018, the following adjustments have been proposed for the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship:

• Player Eligibility: Teams will be able to carry rosters comprised of 9 U.S. citizens and a maximum of 3 legally-residing non-citizens at Club 7s qualifiers and the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship. This change is to simplify individual player eligibility.
  
  
• Roster Size: At events with approved tournament doctors, teams may also carry a 13th ‘traveling reserve player.’ Traveling reserves may only participate if one of the 12 rostered participants is ruled medically unable to compete for the remainder of the event by the approved tournament doctor.
  
  
• Seeding Allotment: All competitive regions (CRs) will be guaranteed at least one seed per division at the championship event. In the men’s competition, six additional seeds will be granted through a weighing of competitive performance over the last three years, plus two seeds granted through the new ‘open’ competitions. No CR may have more than three seeds.
  
  Changes to the women’s competition are currently under review. Both the men’s & women’s championship events will continue to have 16 teams each.
  
  
• Men’s Open Qualifiers: Two men’s tournaments (one in the Eastern U.S.; one in the Western U.S.) will take place in 2018, with the winner of each automatically qualified for the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship.
  
  If the winner comes from a region with the maximum number of seeds allowed (3), the winning team will automatically receive a bid to Nationals but its region will not gain an additional seed. Should that occur, the runner-up team will earn an additional seed for its region but must earn qualification through its qualifier series (i.e. the runner-up can *not* gain automatic entry via the Open system).
  
  
• Competitive Region Qualifiers: All competitive regions must play at least two – but no more than four - qualifying tournaments to competitively seed its teams for the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship. Regions that intend to use championship tournaments must count their tournaments as part of that total (2-4), and regions with split qualifiers must count each tournament as a single qualifier event. Additional tournaments may be played by 7s participating teams but cannot count towards qualification to Nationals.
  
  
• Certification of Events: All qualifying events must be certified by the 7s working group. Certified events will be expected to follow minimum event performance standards, and all certified events will appears on usaclub7s.com.

 
After review of the previously-decided date, the 7s working group has also confirmed that the 2018 USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship will remain the weekend of August 11-12. The location for the event will be announced no later than March 19, and all bids for the event must be received by USA Rugby no later than February 26.
 
The champions of the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship are enshrined on the Emil Signes Cup. The cup is in dedication to Emil Signes, a pioneer of Rugby 7s for the men and women of the United States of America. ​