With less than two weeks until the highly-anticipated start of the inaugural Varsity Cup National Collegiate Rugby Championship the Varsity Cup universities today released the championship’s construct of eligibility rules.
The Varsity Cup universities have adopted the eligibility rules widely used in Intercollegiate Athletics and, for the most part, have adopted verbatim the NCAA eligibility language concerning military and religious service.
The Varsity Cup’s major exception is a departure from the NCAA’s five years to play four with the Varsity Cup opting for five years to play five.
BYU head coach David Smyth commented on the ease of administering the Varsity Cup’s adopted eligibility rules.
“By using what’s been tried and true the Varsity Cup eligibility rules are concise, simple, and easy to manage,” Smyth said, “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, we just want to make it fair and equitable for all the players while making it easy for us to manage in the future.”
California head coach Jack Clark echoed Smyth’s sentiments.
“The collegiate athletic community comprising university executives, conference executives, athletic directors, coaches and the NCAA has an established and well-vetted set of eligibility rules and guidelines which fairly and effectively address military service and official religious missions.” Clark said, “It is pragmatic that university rugby adopts the same eligibility rules where possible. Personally, I am somewhat bothered by rules which treat military personnel unfairly.”
With the adoption of these eligibility rules the Varsity Cup teams can now clearly turn their focus towards their championship preparations.
The opening rounds of the Varsity Cup are April 20th with two Super-Regional sites on the East and West coasts as all eight teams set to vie for the inaugural Varsity Cup National Collegiate Rugby Championship.
The Eastern Super-Regional sees 2011 National Collegiate Champion California taking on Notre Dame with Navy squaring off with two-time Collegiate Rugby 7’s Champions Dartmouth on April 20th.
Both matches are set for 1.30pm ET and 3.30pm ET respectively at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
On the West Coast Central Washington will face three-time former National Collegiate Champion Air Force and 2012 National Collegiate Champion BYU takes on UCLA in the Western Super Regional.
The two Western Super-Regional matches are set for 2pm PT and 4pm PT respectively on UCLA’s picturesque North Athletic Field.
For more details on the Varsity Cup National Collegiate Rugby Championship go to VarsityCup.US
Source : http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/by_country/u_s/7010198/varsity_cup_releases_eligibility_details