The 1978 National Rugby Championships were a series of tournaments organized to determine a national champion in several divisions for United States rugby teams. The divisions included College, Women's club and Interterritorial.
The 1978 College championship took place from February 4–5 at LSU's Parade Grounds in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[1]Palmer College of Chiropractic were the champions.[2] Palmer had previously won championships in 1972 and 1973[3][4] and were runners-up in 1976. Palmer won three matches in the series to win the title.[5] Championship Bracket
The Inter Territorial Tournament involved the four regional rugby unions comprising the United States RFU: Pacific Coast RFU, Western RFU, Midwest RFU, and the Eastern Rugby Union. The region teams are formed from selected players from the sub regional rugby unions. Subsequently, the USA Eagles are selected from the four regional teams after the ITT concludes.[7] The 1978 edition was sponsored by Michelob and played as a round robin from June 10–11 on Aviation Field at Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri.[8]
The 1978 Women's National Rugby Classic for club teams was co-sponsored by the Chicago Women's Rugby Football Club and Michelob beer. The teams invited needed to have won a major regional title and have a winning record.[9] The games were played at Lion's Park in Mount Prospect, Illinois.[10] The team from Portland, Maine won the championship with four shutouts: 3–0 over Denver Blues in the first round, 24–0 over Houston Boars in the second round, then 4–0 against Chicago, and finally 18–0 against Madison, Wisconsin.[11] Chicago took third place with a 4–0 win over Florida State after three overtimes.[12]
Semi-finals
Final
September 2 – Mount Prospect, IL
Portland
4
September 3 – Mount Prospect, IL
Chicago
0
Portland
18
September 2 – Mount Prospect, IL
Madison
0
Madison
4
Florida State
0
Third place
September 3 – Mount Prospect, IL
Chicago
4
Florida State
0
Champions: Portland(ME) Women's Rugby Club. Qualified as New England Champions. Record: 10–1–2 Coaching Staff: Rocky Frenzilli, Ricky Scala(Aide), Peter Gillis(Aide) Roster: Sondra Spiers, Denise Dimitre, Pat Cribby, Kim Berry, Janet Muccino, Susan Adams, Brenda Costello, Mary Beth Staid, Reta Brown Flaherty, Brenda Swallow, Cheryl Ring, Ann Chippfield, Sue Malcolm, Marie Gagne, Amy Belliveau, Debbie Selleck (captain), Ann Chute, Mary Gouletand, Sue Lawler.
The 1978 Monterey National Rugby Championship was the 20th edition of the tournament and was considered to be the de facto national championship.[13][14][15][16][17][18] This event took place at Pebble Beach, CA from March 25–26. The tournament MVP was Jeff Momsen (Old Blues), Miss Rugby winner was Nicole Parlette, Bill Armstrong of the Old Blues won the Running Drop Kick contest while Brian Lowe of UC Davis was runner-up. The Old Blues of Berkeley, CA went 5–0 to take first place.[19][20][21][22][23] Championship Bracket
^"UK In Rugby Tourney". (January 24, 1978). The Lexington Leader, p.B-3 col.3
^"Burdock Rugby Star In Iowa". (June 9, 1978). The Valley Independent, p.8 col.1
^Broyles, Clifford (March 3, 1974). "LSU looking for revenge in rugby match". The Eagle. Vol. 98, no. 62. Bryan-College Station. p. 15. Retrieved December 28, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
