BINGHAMTON, NY – Binghamton University Men’s Rugby Club will host a national qualifying tournament for sevens rugby Saturday, April 5, at the Greater Binghamton Sports Complex, 1500 Airport Rd, Binghamton. The event is free and open to the public. Tournament play will begin at 9 a.m.

Now an Olympic sport, sevens rugby is an action-packed, fast-paced game played on the same size field as traditional 15-player rugby, but with only seven players per team.

The club is expecting team representation from fellow Empire Rugby Conference members including University at Buffalo, Stony Brook University, Brockport College, Rutgers University, St. Bonaventure University and Syracuse University. Non-conference members expected to attend include Colgate University, Drexel University and Kutztown University.

Binghamton is one of four sites to host a qualifying tournament, from which the overall series winner will advance to the national tournament in Virginia Beach, Va. (May 2-4). Other series dates and locations include: March 29 at Rutgers University, April 12 at University at Buffalo, and April 19 at Stony Brook University.

The Men’s Rugby Club is one of 38 recreational and competitive club sport teams at Binghamton University under the auspices of Campus Recreational Services. The Men’s Rugby Club is considered a Division I sport under USA Rugby.

To learn more about rugby and the national sevens tournament series, visit usarugby.org.

For more information, contact the Binghamton University Men’s Rugby Club student tournament liaison Chris Mallinson at cmallin1@binghamton.edu or Craig Dube, assistant director, Campus Recreational Services, at 607-777-4259 or cdube@binghamton.edu.