RugbyLaw, LLC, a Minneapolis, Minnesota based sports and entertainment company and the founding entity of the National Rugby Football League (NRFL) is pleased to announce it has reached an agreement with the Leicester Tigers to play the NRFL “Rough Riders” in the first professional major league rugby game in the U.S. The match will be played on Saturday, August 1st, 2015, with the major stadium site being announced prior to the NRFL’s Player Combine at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in January, 2015.
The NRFL Rough Riders will be a composite All-Star team of elite American athletes that have been recruited from professional and collegiate ranks of football, basketball, hockey, domestic and international rugby players all trained to compete in professional major league Rugby Union 15 – RuXV. The Leicester Tigers, ten-time Aviva Premiership Rugby champions (England’s elite professional league) and twice European Cup winners have wide spread fan support across the world and look forward to being a part of U. S. professional rugby history, the country’s fastest growing sport.
“This game will truly be the first of firsts in establishing professional rugby in America. Awareness and opportunity is what we are bringing to the athletes and sports fans as we birth the major league sport of rugby in America,” said Michael Clements, Founder of RugbyLaw, LLC in regards to this historical game.
Tiger’s chief executive Simon Cohen said: “The name of Leicester Tigers travels across the world and we’re delighted to have been invited to witness the appetite for the game in the USA first-hand and the fixture against a team from the National Rugby Football League clubs will provide an excellent platform both for the home-based players and also our squad as they prepare for a new season. Sporting facilities and the pool of talent in so many sports in the USA are the envy of organizations across the world and it should prove a very interesting trip for the club.”
This will be the first time an all-professional rugby match has been played in America. The game will demonstrate the United States has become a center for the highest caliber of rugby union play and that Americans will show up as equals if not superior in elite competition.
After the NRFL Rough Riders vs. Leicester Tigers match next summer, the NRFL will commence regular season play in 2016 beginning with six teams in key American cities.
ABOUT THE NRFL
The National Rugby Football League is owned by RugbyLaw, LLC, a Minneapolis/St.Paul-based corporation. Rugby Law is leading the market in the creation of a professional rugby union fifteens league in the United States.