A player receives his winners medal on finals day

Our story

OUR STORY

How Cup Rugby America started, and where it is going.

Cup Rugby America started in Brooklyn in 2026.

The honest reason: US club rugby has a problem with its off-season. Most clubs play a single league season, fall or spring depending on the region. Outside that window there is nothing meaningful to play for. The teams that go on national playoff runs are a handful. Everyone else fills the calendar with friendlies, or just lets the squad drift apart.

Spring Cup 2026 was the answer to a simple question. What if we filled that gap with proper, competitive, well-organized rugby? Eight clubs from the NYC metro signed up. Two months of group stage. Finals day at Columbia. New Haven Old Black lifted the Cup, Brooklyn lifted the Plate, and the after-party went off at Pig N’ Whistle. Bondi backed the beer.

Year 1 was the inaugural edition. We learned a lot, about format, about clubs, about what finals day needs to be, about how to run something like this. Now we are building it bigger.

Year 2. Spring Cup expands to multiple US markets. Fall Cup launches for clubs whose league season runs the other way. Both follow the same model. Both are built for clubs who want more than friendlies.

Long-term. Tournament rugby for every US club, in every off-season window, year-round. Properly organized, properly competitive, properly fun. Cup Rugby America is built by club rugby people, for club rugby clubs.

Who runs it

Cup Rugby America is founded and run by Eddie Robb. He has played club rugby since the age of four, never to any great heights, just for the love of the game. He was president of a Scottish rugby club at 25 and held the role for four years, and has spent the last three on the board at Brooklyn Rugby Club. Scottish, based in New York, with a background in commercial strategy and a deep belief in the power of club rugby. The brand is run independently, with no affiliation to USA Rugby or any governing body.

Finals day, 2026