Women’s Division 1 – January 2026 Recap

It may be a new calendar year, but we’re only halfway through the USA Club Rugby 25-26 season. However, January does mark the start of league play in most of our warmer-weather regions. They will dominate the lion’s share of this article as competitions in the North have either finished or remain on winter break until the spring. We’ll still be sure to note what happened in the fall or what lies ahead for playoffs in those competitions. 

All of the information gathered for these articles come from the team-entered data on Rugby Xplorer. This means that the more accurate your team is about entering data, the more detail I can go into in these recaps. The power is in your hands. Or your team’s admin’s hands… If there does happen to be a mistake – feel free to reach out; I’m always in the interest of providing the most accurate information. Any additional commentary is added just for fun; from someone who has zero stake in the outcomes of these matches. 

Now that we’ve covered that (or skipped over it because you’re a regular reader of the monthly recaps), it’s time for some rugby! Let’s kick it off with what’s happened in the Women’s Division 1 Competition.

The Midwest Women’s D1 competition finished in November with Chicago North Shore defeating the Pittsburgh Forge in the final. This year, the Midwest Champion will take on the Rocky Mountain Champion (Utah) in a final match before the National Final Four. This is a switch up from last year, when Rocky Mountain participated in the Pacific Super Regional. It’s going to be a tough game for Chicago North Shore as the Vipers are the defending National Champions, having defeated NOVA 49-34 last year. That game won’t happen until both regions thaw out from the winter, but off-field prep is necessary to hit the ground running.

Over in the Rockies, there is one final game for the regular season left to be played between the Utah Vipers (3-0) and the Colorado Gray Wolves (0-3). The result won’t change the standings, as the Vipers have already done the damage needed to secure first overall. 

To better follow the other four divisions (Men’s D1-3 and Women’s D2) Utah will advance to the Northern Super Regional to take on the Midwest Champion this year to try to book a ticket back to the National Championship. That cuts Utah’s play-in pathway from two matches (a Pacific semi and final) to one (Northern final). The other benefit to this is that Chicago North Shore finished up their season in the fall, so Utah won’t be playing California teams that bask in the sun all year, they’ll be taking on a side who also had to shovel out all the lines on the pitch.

Change is exciting, even if I am the last to know about it.

The Atlantic D1 competition is on a winter hiatus, due to return in March. There are a number of matches still to be played, but typically this league plays semifinals and a final before determining their seed to the National Championship tournament; giving everyone a second chance (as long as they finish in the top four). 

So far Philadelphia (4-0) and NOVA (4-0) are our front runners. Philadelphia has one more bonus point than NOVA, giving them the top seed on the table; they also have a larger point differential. The New York Rugby Club (3-2) and the DC Furies (2-2) are in the next group on the table, sitting comfortably above the bottom three teams, none of whom have recorded a win yet. We’ll check back in on this league on March 21st when the Atlanta Harlequins (0-3) host the Raleigh Venom (0-3); barring a tie, one of them will get their first win of the season.

The Seattle Orcas have posted their Spring 2026 schedule via social media, though we’re still waiting for the updates to drop via Rugby Xplorer. Their first match of the season took place the final weekend of January against BC Prem opponent, Westshore RFC. It was a resounding win for Westshore, who made the trip down stateside for the match. The BC Premiership is a notoriously difficult league, and one that prepares Seattle well for the postseason run. This is just the start of the season too, the only way to go is up!

The NorCal D1/D2 hybrid kicked off their season with a lone match back in November, and just started back up again at the end of this month. It’s not looking great for the Sacramento Amazons (0-2) who suffered another massive loss this month. This time, it was at the hands of Life West (1-0), who scored 98 points last weekend. Alia Simmonds racked up four tries, including a pair back to back in the final minutes of the match; a pretty impressive feat, especially for a front-rower. Laura Bocek also got on the board three times for Life West, as well as adding eight conversions to the total. The lone points from Sacramento were from Emily Persson’s penalty goal at the start of the second half. A very tough start to the season for the Amazons. 

As the scoreline for this match was near-identical to the Blues’ win over Sacramento, it really just adds excitement for when Life West and Berkeley (1-0) go head to head. That’s going to be at the end of February, so we’ll cover it in the next recap. The Amazons have a bit of a reprieve until March, when they take on Life West and Berkeley in back to back weekends. 

After a long-awaited fall season off, Southern California has jumped into action and joined the excitement of the 2026 USA Club Rugby season. The same four teams as last year are back for more action, and two weeks of league play took place at the end of January. The San Diego Surfers (2-0) and Santa Monica (2-0) both started undefeated. San Diego walloped Belmont Shore (0-2) in the first week, putting up 12 tries in the 78-0 blanking. Their next match against Tempe (0-2) was a nailbiter though. Both teams got the four-try bonus point relatively quickly, with the score 26-24 just after halftime. Then, the scoring stopped, both teams locked in a stalemate that went up to the 78th minute when San Diego drove the nail in the coffin, scoring through Sheree Collins to make it 31-24. As it’s still within seven points, Tempe got two bonus points in the loss. 

This loss for Tempe was tough, especially since they just came off an even closer match the weekend before, against Santa Monica. Tempe led the entire first half, heading into the sheds at 14-0. Santa Monica managed to score twice in the first 20 of the second half, but then Tempe matched them try for try. The last minutes of the match were pure chaos, as teams traded the lead back and forth. Santa Monica ended the game on the winning try through Nia Toliver (yes, that Nia Toliver – talk about an impact sub!), taking the win 26-24. 

Belmont Shore are also 2-0, though they have yet to score a point in either game. Given how Tempe match up against the top two sides, it could be a rough season for Belmont if they don’t change a few things up. 

On February 14th we get to see Santa Monica host San Diego, that one will determine the top of the food chain. Tempe will also host Belmont the same day, finally going for their first win of the season.

Texas plays a D1/D2 hybrid, so we will cover all the matches that involve the four D1 sides, whether they are playing D1 or D2 opponents. Last we left off, Life U (3-0) had certainly made their mark on the league. The Dallas Harlequins (2-2) opted to forfeit their away match in Marietta, giving Life the 28-0 forfeit win on January 17th. Life took on the Houston sHARCs (2-1) the last weekend of January in a thrilling 36-12 battle. Given the scores that Life had stacked on some of the D1 teams, both back in October in their Atlantic friendlies, and in December in Texas, I was probably the first to think that they’d have a smooth ride to a National Championship title. But this match against Houston gives me pause. Sure, Houston are a great side, they smashed the Austin Valkyries (0-4) 76-0 the weekend before, but Life is going to have to work hard if they want to make it to that National Championship game. 

The Dallas Harlequins sandwiched two wins over Austin on either side of that Life forfeit, the first 58-0, the second 62-0. Chloe Headland scored seven tries in those two matches, along with eight conversions. 

The Valkyries are definitely struggling, it’s been a tough start to their season, and it’s not going to get any better. They have to travel to Life on February 21st, that’s going to be a tough one, especially on the road. They do take on the sHARCs D2 on February 7th. That could be a confidence builder if it goes in Austin’s favor. Or not, if it doesn’t. The Dallas Harlequins will play Little Rock D2 next weekend as well. That match is definitely not an easy one, Little Rock is 2-0 and toppled a few of the D1 sides last year in league play. The sHARCs next one is against the Quins on February 1st, with Houston hosting.