USA Rugby history

In 1980, USA Rugby formed a college national championship tournament.

The United States women's national team was officially formed in 1987.

The United States national rugby sevens team has participated each year in the IRB Sevens World Series each year since the tournament's founding in 1999.

It was finally awarded the annual USA Sevens tournament, beginning in 2004 with Los Angeles as the venue for the initial USA Sevens tournaments.

Opened in New York City on May 7, 2008, the Sports Museum of America showcases USA Rugby in its Hall of Halls Gallery, in return for their support of the creation of the nation's first all-sports museum experience.

They first played each other in 2009, as part of the 2009 Churchill Cup.

They played Canada in an annual Can-Am series, renamed the Colonial Cup in 2010 when the Canadians re-emerged after a ten-year hiatus, as well as Ireland in an annual match to mark St Patrick’s Day known as the Donnybrook Cup.

The formation of the independent USARL in 2011 with eight teams was largely the result of dissatisfaction with the AMNRL’s management of Rugby League in America.

As part of the AMNRL’s expansion plans for the Pacific, Honolulu was selected as the venue for what was the inaugural Ohana Cup in 2012 when the Tomahawks hosted Tonga.

In its latter stages, the AMNRL expanded farther north to Boston, as well as to the Southeast and Midwest, before being dissolved in 2013 and replaced by the USARL.

In 2014, USA Rugby created Rugby International Marketing, a for-profit company that is responsible for promoting the sport of rugby.

Between then and 2016, the tournament’s format was altered and saw an Indigenous All-Stars side from Australia, a New South Wales Police team, along with representative sides from Canada, Samoa and Fiji, plus the Hawaii Chiefs Select side all taking part.

With RIM's financial performance continuing to deteriorate, in August 2017, Lewis proposed what was effectively a vote of no confidence in the board, this time getting seven votes and a similar number of abstentions.

On March 31, 2020, the board of USA Rugby voted to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of "insurmountable financial constraints" in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic crisis.