IUPUI's Women's Rugby Club team is headed to the Collegiate Rugby Championship in New Orleans for the first time ever. During their qualifying weekend, IUPUI ended the series with a record of 7–0, earning them a trip to the tournament.
In the largest collegiate 7s national championship tournament, 28 women's teams will be competing in what is called May Madness 7s. With roughly 20,000 fans watching, the weekend of May 28–30 is packed with nonstop rugby.
The president of the club, Taylor Miller, talks about how the team was able to reach this great achievement and what they're doing to prepare for nationals.
How long has the Women's Rugby Club been at IUPUI?
The Women's Rugby Club was created in 2020 during COVID-19, so we couldn't really compete because of that. Our first competitive season was the fall semester of 2021. That is when we first started competing in tournaments and conference games.
How many tournaments does the team go to throughout the year?
It depends. Women's Rugby is an up-and-coming sport in the U.S. and it's getting more popular as the years go on. This semester, we played three or four tournaments, with three to four games per tournament.
What does a normal practice look like for the team?
This semester, we have been collaborating a lot with the Jaguars Rugby Football Club. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we usually scrimmage against them. We learn a lot from the men's rugby coach and those practices really help us learn how to practice together as a team. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we practice running plays and defense and offensive drills. We do a lot of work on those days to nail the basics of rugby.
What were the requirements to make it to the Collegiate Rugby Championship?
Essentially, we played four games in a single day – these qualifying tournaments were on both the weekends of April 2 and April 9. If we won a match, we automatically scored four points that went towards our conference standings. If we scored more than four tries (which is similar to touchdowns in football) against a single team and beat them by more than seven points, we got an extra bonus point that went towards our conference standings. At the end of the tournament each weekend, those points were added up based upon wins, losses, ties and bonus points. We were then ranked each weekend by how many conference standing points we received.
Which team was your toughest competition during those qualifying tournaments?
Our toughest opponent that we played throughout those two weekends was the University of Cincinnati. We knew that we really had to bring our A game when it came to facing off against them because they were a really strong and well-developed team. We knew there was a potential they would give us a run for our money. However, the first match we played against them on April 2 was probably the best team performance we have ever had. It was really cool to see how we played together as a team.
What was the team's reaction when they found out they had qualified?
When we realized we not only went undefeated, but also qualified for nationals, we were all honestly too stunned to speak. It was such an intense feeling of happiness that was shared among all of us, and it's something that will make a lasting impact on the reputation of our team and those that were able to make this happen.
What is the team doing to prepare for New Orleans?
It's such a new experience and new opportunity for us, that we don't really know what to do and what not to do. We have gotten this far with everything we have done in practice and outside of practice, so just doing our thing and practicing as we always have been. We are continuing the same momentum that we've had throughout the current season.
As president, how excited are you to go to nationals? How proud are you of the team?
Honestly, I still can't believe that it's real. We've only been competitively playing since last fall. While we knew there was this potential to make nationals this year, we never saw it coming this soon. It's crazy to see the growth that we've had as a team in such a short time. It's also really cool to see how we've grown and how we've proven ourselves as a club sport.
Follow the team's journey in New Orleans by checking out the National Collegiate Rugby Organization's website. For additional updates on the Women's Rugby Club, follow their Instagram or find them on The Spot.