Press Release

Atlantic Coast Invitational Announces 2009 Rugby Tournament

July 7, 2008 – The 2009 Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby Tournament, featuring the men’s rugby teams from the schools that make up the Atlantic Coast Conference, will be held January 17-18 in Tallahassee, FL on the campus of Florida State University. This is the tournament’s second year, the inaugural competition having been held in early April 2008 in Raleigh, NC and won by the University of Virginia.

“We were very pleased with last year’s tournament in Raleigh,” said University of North Carolina head coach and ACI Co-Director Andy Richards. “Despite atrocious weather and two teams backing out the week of the tournament, I think that for a first effort we were quite successful. The bulk of the credit for that goes to the Raleigh RFC, who graciously offered their world-class rugby facility to the event and whose club members volunteered throughout the weekend to help run all aspects of the tournament.”

The fact that Georgia Tech and Duke had to withdraw the week of the 2008 tournament and Boston College chose not to participate caused tournament organizers to look at alternative dates for the competition. They selected the January date in part because it falls on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, meaning most schools will not have classes on Monday, January 19 and the participating teams will have some added flexibility in travel.

“With four participating teams playing their competitive season in the fall and eight playing their competitive season in the spring, it has been extremely difficult to find a tournament date which works for all teams involved,” said Wake Forest Director of Men’s Rugby and ACI Co-Director Patrick Kane. “While this date and location are certainly not ideal for some teams, the important thing is that we believe it gives all the invited teams the opportunity to participate because there are no conflicts with league play. Additionally, the playing field is leveled because everyone will be coming off semester break and will have just resumed training.”

The selection of January for the 2009 tournament meant that the location would have to be moved further south to avoid a repeat of the disastrous weather that plagued the ’08 event. When approached about hosting, Florida State jumped at the opportunity. The tournament will be held at a newly-constructed $12.3 million athletic complex on the Florida State campus, featuring four lighted pitches, first-class changing facilities, training rooms, and concession stands.

Said Florida State head coach Mike Naylor, “We are striving to elevate the status of FSU rugby both in the eyes of our University and in the eyes of the American rugby community. We look forward to hosting a top notch rugby event on campus and showcasing our rugby program and first rate facilities.” Florida State was the surprise of the 2008 ACI. Entering the tournament as the lowest-seeded team, FSU blanked Wake Forest 34-0 in their opening match and then looked to upset top-seeded Maryland in their second match before losing on a try on the last play of the game. Their performance in pool play earned them the wild-card spot in the cup round and in the semifinals they were leading eventual champion Virginia until the waning moments when FSU once again surrendered the lead on the final play of the match.

Nine of the twelve invited teams have already tentatively committed to attending the tournament in Tallahassee, and Kane said that he and Richards are hoping to have ten teams at next year’s event. “This year we had nine teams ultimately participate,” he said. “Although travel will be more difficult for some of the teams with the new location, we are hoping that teams will recognize the importance of this event and that they will do whatever they need to in order to get to the 2009 ACI.” Said Richards, “The Atlantic Coast Invitational is still in its infancy, and the most important thing is that we keep the momentum going from last year and put on another great event in 2009. Afterwards we can always go back to the drawing board and look at other options in terms of dates and locations, just like we did this year.”


The teams invited to participate in the 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Invitational are:

  • Boston College
  • Clemson University
  • Duke University
  • Florida State University
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • University of Miami
  • N.C. State University
  • University of Maryland
  • University of North Carolina
  • University of Virginia
  • Virginia Tech
  • Wake Forest University
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Pat Kane
pmkane78@aol.com