Midwest Rugby Premiership

Midwest Rugby Premiership
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023
SportRugby union
Founded2015; 9 years ago (2015)
Organising bodyMidwest Rugby Union
CountryUnited States
Most recent
champion(s)
St. Louis Bombers Rugby Football Club
(2023-24)
Official websitemidwest.rugby/premiership

The Midwest Rugby Premiership is a rugby union competition in the United States that serves mainly as the Division I league for the Midwest Conference (National Competitive Region 1), but also includes two teams from the Frontier Conference (American Competitive Region 3). The winner progresses to the national Division I playoffs.

Format

Ten teams are divided into east and west divisions, with each team playing every other team in their group twice (home and away). The season runs from August through November, with the two division winners playing in the final the following May.

Teams

East Division
Team Metro Area Founded
Chicago Griffins Chicago, IL 1973
Chicago Lions Chicago, IL 1964
Cincinnati Wolfhounds Cincinnati, OH 1974
Columbus RFC Columbus, OH 1975
Detroit Tradesmen Detroit, MI 1978
West Division
Team Metro Area Founded
Kansas City Blues Kansas City, MO 1966
Metropolis RFC Minneapolis, MN 1960
Milwaukee Barbarians Milwaukee, WI 2012
Palmer Rugby Davenport, IA 1960
St. Louis Bombers St. Louis, MO 1962

Champions

By Year

Season Teams Champion Score Runner-up
2018–19 10 Chicago Lions 30–13 Palmer Rugby
2019–20 10 Chicago Lions 29–15 Kansas City Blues
2020–21 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22 12 Chicago Griffins 38–15 Metropolis RFC
2022–23 10 Chicago Griffins 34–28 St. Louis Bombers
2023–24 10 St. Louis Bombers 34–28 Cincinnati