Midwest 7s Series

The Series will consist of three (3) Events:

1. Saturday, June 28, 2025, at the Hope Sports Complex in Lansing, Michigan
2. Saturday, July 12, 2025, at Chicago Blaze Rugby Facility in Lemont, Illinois
3. Saturday, July 26, 2025, at the Moose Grounds in Elkhart, Indiana (Championship)

The competition will be separated into three (3) levels which Club/ Teams will select upon registration for the Series or a single event:

• Premiership – this elite-level competition will qualify participants into the USA Club Rugby National Championship Pathway. This is the traditional “qualifying” bracket.
• Midwest Cup – this level of competition is best suited for high-performance 7s sides that are developing to compete at Nationals. Occasionally, teams participating in this competition-level will be asked to compete in crossover matches against Premiership sides, but those results will not count towards the final standings of the Cup Competition.
• Open – this level of competition is best suited for well-organized and competitive sides that are not quite ready to compete for the Premiership or Cup but want to play a higher level than typical social 7s tournaments. Occasionally, these sides will be asked to compete in crossover matches against Cup sides but will not compete in the final standings of that competition.

The winner of the Midwest Premiership and Cup Competitions will be the overall Series winner as determined by cumulative Series Points earned. The winner of any Open Competitions will be awarded on an event basis.

Series Registration & Payment – Closed as of 7/15/2025

The cost of the 2025 Series is $1,200 for Clubs/ Teams that register for the entire Series or $450 for registration for individual events. Clubs/ Teams wishing to register for the entire Series must do so prior to June 14, 2025. Registration for individual events will close two (2) Saturdays before the date of the Event. The Midwest Rugby Union reserves the right to charge merchant processing fees for any electronic payments.

The Series is open to one (1) Team per Club unless that Club intends on registering an additional side for the Series and that side operates independent from the primary side for the duration of the series. Additional sides are strongly encouraged to compete at different competition levels but are not required to.

All participating Clubs/ Teams must be recognized by USA Rugby and the Midwest Rugby Union. Teams from outside the Midwest Rugby Union (non-members) may participate in the 2025 Midwest 7s Series by receiving expressed written consent from the Midwest Rugby Union and paying a separate Team Summer Registration Fee of $300 for the Series or $100 per event.

Regulations & Eligibility

Matches at all levels will be held in accordance with the Laws of the Game, as specified by World Rugby (WR), as well as any applicable guidelines set forth by USA Rugby and/or the Midwest Rugby Union including USAR Eligibility Requirements as described here.

Each participating Club/Team must complete an electronic roster (or printed when applicable) each Event which names their thirteen (13) person roster for the Event. This roster should be submitted prior to the Team’s first match of the day. Only players named on the roster may compete for a Team for the duration of the Event. As mentioned above, if a Club has entered two (2) Teams in an Event, the rosters must be kept independent for the entire Series and therefore Event.

Competition Details

Each Event will be held within the geographic boundaries of the Midwest Rugby Union and during the months of June and July. The Midwest Rugby Union will organize competition brackets in which the Teams will compete. Unless otherwise noted, all competition brackets will exhibit the following characteristics:

• Each competition will be organized into three (3) rounds of play – Seeding, Playoff, and Championship.
• Teams, in general, are guaranteed four (4) matches; however, the top eight (8) teams should be guaranteed five (5) matches barring unforeseen circumstances such as forfeits or a lack of an appropriate number of teams participating in the Event.
• Men’s teams not eligible for the National Championship (due to residing outside the MWFU or playing ineligible players) are prohibited from any Premiership Bracket without the expressed written consent of the Midwest Rugby Union. This restriction does not apply to Women’s Qualifier Brackets.
• All Teams must register for the entire Series prior to June 14, 2025. Additional side registration for all Events will remain open until two (2) weeks prior to the event. After that time, registration may be closed at the discretion of the Midwest Rugby Union.
• All Teams must be given at least forty (40) minutes between any matches, barring extenuating circumstances that cause significant delays such as lightning or significant injury.
• The Midwest Rugby Union is free to begin the Event at their discretion, however once the matches begin, all matches should be completed within seven (7) hours barring extenuating circumstances that cause significant delays such as significant injury or adverse weather.

Event Seeding

Pooling of Teams in the Seeding Round will be determined in advance by the Midwest Rugby Union. For the first tournament of the season, the pools will be randomly drawn. For subsequent tournaments, the Midwest Rugby Union will use the current Series Standings to assign the first team to each pool with the first pool containing the first-seeded team, the second pool containing the second-seeded team and so on. Once a Team has been assigned to a pool, the remaining Teams will be assigned to a pool through random draw. In the event there are multiple Teams from the same Club entered in the same competition at a given Event, they will be placed back into the selecting pool if randomly drawn into a pool with another Team from their Club. This will be done to avoid two Teams from the same Club being placed in the same pool.

Ideally, the drawing will occur the weekend prior to the Event but shall not occur later than the Wednesday immediately preceding the Qualifying Event.

In the event the number of Teams entered into a competition bracket does not allow for even pools, the Midwest Rugby Union will randomly assign teams into pools using templates approved by the Midwest Rugby Union Prior to the start of the Series. The Midwest Rugby Union has templates for six (6), ten (10), twelve (12) and fourteen (14) team events. Additionally, Teams from one lower competition level can be placed into a pool at a higher competition for the purposes of Seeding Round.

Match Specifications

All matches in the Seeding Round will consist of two (2) seven-minute halves and a two-minute halftime. Tie-breakers will not be played for any draws and forfeits will automatically be scored at 28 – 0 (four converted tries) for the non-forfeiting side.

The results of the Seeding Round will be used to rank the teams for the Playoff Round. The top eight (8) teams with the best records will advance to the Playoff Round. The top four (4) teams will compete in the Cup Division and the remaining teams (5 – 8) will compete in the Plate Division. Any Team that plays up during the Seeding Round will receive automatic placement into the Cup Division for the Playoff Round at their intended competition level. No Team shall be asked to compete up a consecutive Events unless extenuating circumstances require it.

In the event of a tie when ranking the two (2) or more teams for the Playoff Round, the following tiebreakers will be applied in sequence until the tie(s) are broken for all teams involved in the tie(s):

1. Head-to-head result
2. Head-to-head point differential
3. Head-to-head try differential
4. Head-to-head total points scored
5. Total Tries Scored
6. Total Points Scored

Teams that do not advance to the Playoff Round will play a single Consolation Match based upon their performance during the Seeding Round. Teams will play against their next immediate ranked team; therefore, the ninth-ranked team will play the tenth-ranked team, the eleventh-ranked team will play the twelve-ranked team and so on.

Premiership and Cup Teams are required to play consolation matches, if offered, unless a medical or inclement weather waiver is granted by the Midwest Rugby Union or Tournament Director. Failure to participate in consolation matches without a waiver will result in the following sanctions:

• • First Time Offense: subtraction of all Series Points for the applicable event
  • Second Time Offense: suspension from Series participation

Tournament Directors should notate any forfeiting teams in their Qualifier Report.

All matches in the Playoff and Championship Rounds will consist of two (2) seven-minute halves and a two-minute halftime. In the Cup Division, the first -ranked team will play the fourth-ranked team and the second-ranked team will play the third-ranked team. In the Plate Division, the fifth-ranked team will play the eighth-ranked team and the sixth-ranked team will play the seventh-ranked team.

In case of a drawn match at the conclusion of full-time during the Playoff or Championship Rounds, the Teams will compete in a “sudden death” overtime to determine the winner. Sudden death periods in the Playoff Round will be five-minutes in duration with a two-minute break between periods. These periods will continue until one team breaks the tie.

In the Championship Round, the Playoff Round winners in the Cup Division will compete for the Cup Championship and Runner-up (first and second place). The Playoff Round losers in the Cup Division will play a consolation match to determine third and fourth place. Similarly, the Playoff Round winners in the Plate Division will compete for fifth and sixth place and the Playoff Round losers in the Plate Division will compete for seventh and eighth place.

(Premiership and Cup Only) At the conclusion of each Event, Teams will be assigned Series Points based upon how they finish within their competition. Series Points will be awarded as follows:

• • 1st Place – 20 points
  • 2nd Place – 18 points
  • 3rd Place – 16 points
  • 4th Place -14 points
  • 5th Place -12 points
  • 6th Place -10 points
  • 7th Place – 8 points
  • 8th Place – 6 points
  • 9th Place – 4 points
  • 10th Place – 3 points
  • 11th Place  – 2 points
  • 12th Place – 1 point

*Forfeits by a Team in any round will result in a two-point penalty for each forfeited match.

Championship Event Seeding

In the event of a tie when ranking two (2) or more teams for the Midwest Rugby Union Championship, the tie(s) will be broken by applying the following tie-breakers in sequence until the tie(s) are broken:

1. 1. Overall Series Record
   2. Head-to-head results
   3. Series tries scored
   4. Series points scored
   5. Series try differential
   6. Series point differential
   7. Series penalty kicks
   8. Coin toss

Referee & Discipline

Referees

Referees for Premiership and Cup matches will be requested by the Midwest Rugby Referee Society. Local Rugby Organizations may be relied upon for Open Competition. Referees will be paid at the following rates for matches:

• • Premiership & Cup Match Center Referee: $50
  • Open Match Center Referee: $30
  • Assistant Referee: $10
  • End-Goal Judge: $5

The Midwest Rugby Referee Society will send a match assignor to each Event to assign referees as follows:

• • One (1) referee for each match in the Seeding Round
  • One (1) referee for each match in the Playoff Round
  • One (1) referee and two (2) assistant referees for each match in the Championship Round
  • Two (2) end-goal judges may also be assigned at the discretion of the assignor.

Disciplinarian

Each Event will provide a Tournament Disciplinarian to handle any discipline incidents that occur at the Event. A ‘qualified’ Disciplinarian must be an individual who has proven experience adjudicating rugby discipline issues. If the Tournament Host does not have someone within their organization that can fill this role, the host must reach out to their Local Area Union Disciplinarian and/or the Midwest Rugby Union for assistance prior to the Event.

Series Contacts

The following individuals are responsible for the coordination and management of the Midwest 7s Series:

• Vice President of Competition: Lou Raymond – rugby.lou.1@gmail.com
• Midwest Administrator: Bill Marnell – admin@midwest.rugby
• Women’s Coordinator: Stephanie Ramirez – sramirez711@gmail.com
• Men’s Coordinator: Matt Borchardt – mjborchardt14@gmail.com

Page Update: 07/26/2025