History

2023 PR7s Champions

Championship History

Year	Women’s Champion	Men’s Champion	United Champion
2021	Northern Loonies	Rocky Mountain Experts	–
2022	Southern Headliners	SoCal Loggerheads	Southern Headliners
2023	Northern Loonies	SoCal Loggerheads	Rocky Mountain Experts

Women’s Final

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-Up
2021	Northern Loonies	28-14	Southern Headliners
2022	Southern Headliners	33-7	Northern Loonies
2023	Northern Loonies	21-10	New York Locals

Men’s Final

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-Up
2021	Rocky Mountain Experts	(3) 19-19 (0)	SoCal Loggerheads
2022	SoCal Loggerheads	32-22	Southern Headliners
2023	SoCal Loggerheads	10-5	Pittsburgh Steeltoes

Tournament Wins

Championship Wins

Tournament Wins

League Awards

League Timeline

2021

The inaugural Premier Rugby Sevens Championship was played in Memphis, Tennessee at AutoZone Park on October 9, 2021. Six franchises competed for glory that day in the Locals, Team, Loonies, Headliners, Loggerheads, and Experts. 

The first-ever Premier Rugby Sevens Women’s trophy was awarded to the Loonies while the Experts claimed the men’s top prize. The Most Valuable Player honors went to Delaney Aikens from the Loonies and Experts’ Logan Tago.

Notable players from the USA Men’s and Women’s Rugby Sevens rosters who played for PR7s this season in Perry Baker, Naya Tapper, Alev Kelter, Danny Barrett, Folau Niua, Stephen Tomasin, Kevon Williams, and Abby Gustaitis.

2022

In 2022, the competition expanded to a three stop circuit, playing tournaments in San Jose, California at PayPal Park, Washington D.C at Audi Field, and the Championship in Austin, Texas at Q2 Stadium. 

The league went from six franchises competing down to four, the Loonies, Headliners, Loggerheads, and Experts. However, each franchise had two teams, one men and one women, competing for the title. 

This was the first year the league adopted the United Championship. The United Championship is an award given to a franchise who combined for the most points throughout the season. The Headliners won the first-ever United Championship in 2022.

The Women’s trophy was renamed to the Kathy Flores Cup in 2022 to honor Kathy Flores, a trailblazer for women’s rugby in the United States and all across the world. The Women Headliners raised the first Kathy Flores Cup. 

The Men’s Championship also added an honor and dedication to their trophy after A. Jon Prusmack, an integral piece of USA Sevens history. The Loggerheads hoisted the first A. Jon Prusmack trophy in Austin, Texas. 

2023

After the 2022 season, the league doubled in size, growing to eight franchises with each housing a men’s and women’s program for a total of 16 teams among the league. The franchises were regionalized and divided into an Eastern and Western Conference. 

Eastern Conference	Western Conference
New York Locals	Golden State Retrievers
Pittsburgh Steeltoes	Northern Loonies
Southern Headliners	Rocky Mountain Experts
Texas Team	SoCal Loggerheads

In addition to expanding the size of the league, PR7s also grew its circuit, now playing five tournaments throughout the summer. 

Prior to the start of the season, PR7s hosted 10 Talent ID camps across North America in search of new talent to emerge in PR7s this summer. Over 700 athletes tried out for a PR7s roster with 33 earning a spot on the summer tour.

Premier Rugby Sevens hosted five tournaments in major U.S markets including, Austin, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Jose, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Washington D.C. The season consisted of 40 internationally broadcasted matches, as well as 26 hours of linear television coverage across FS1, FS2, and CBS Sports. 

The season started out with the women Headliners running it back in Austin and claiming the first Tournament win of the year. The men’s Team held it down at home securing the program’s first-ever tournament win. 

Another host who claimed the title at home were the women Loonies who downed the newcomers, Golden State Retrievers with a walkoff try. The men Experts also claimed another win under their belt during the Minneapolis stop. The Western Conference Kickoff marked the first-ever professional rugby event in Minneapolis.

At the Western Conference Finals in San Jose, Calif., the women Experts punched their ticket to the PR7s Championship after earning their first-ever tournament win. The men’s Loggerheads caused an upset, taking home their first tournament win of the season and moving on to D.C. as well.

The Eastern Conference Finals kicked off in Pittsburgh, marking the first ever professional rugby event in the city. The home team and league rookies, the men Steeltoes shocked the conference and secured the win while the women Headliners secured back-to-back, marking their fourth-straight tournament win.

The Golden State Retrievers were the only franchise not to advance a team to the Championship in Washington, D.C. On the women’s side the Headliners, Locals, Loonies, and Experts collided in D.C. to raise the Kathy Flores Cup while among the men the Team, Steeltoes, Experts, and Rhinos x Loggerheads went head to head for the A. Jon Prusmack cup. Being the only team to advance an entire franchise to the Championship after collecting the most points throughout the season, the Experts claimed the second-ever United Championship. 

After falling twice to the Headliners this season, the Locals downed the reigning champs in the first-round advancing to the Finals where they faced the Northern Loonies. The Loonies topped the Locals 28-14, claiming its second-ever Championship title. 

The men Steeltoes and Rhinos x Loggerheads continued their hot streak both downing their respective conference opponents reaching the Finals. In a close battle, the Rhinos x Loggerheads pulled off a 10-5 win raising the trophy once again.