SOCORRO, N.M. – The New Mexico Tech Miners rugby team is headed to the rugby national championship tournament.

The campus community sent off its Miners on Thursday afternoon as they head to the National Collegiate Rugby Championships in New Orleans.

Watch the Miners’ first match of the tournament this Saturday at 12:13 p.m. MST on therugbynetwork.com. The Miners will take on Wheeling University team in the first round. In the second round on Sunday morning, NMT will face either Central College or the Air Force Academy.

NMT has had a rugby program since 1976, but this is the first ever berth into the national championship tournament. The event is billed as May Madness 7s and will go from Saturday through Monday, May 29 to May 31. Unlike traditional rugby that features 15 players per side, each team will field only 7 players at a time in this format.

Under the leadership of second year coach Gearoid Dunbar, the Miners bolted to an early 6-0 record in the spring 2021 campaign. The Miners compete in Division 3 and expect to face competition from Divisions 1 and 2 in New Orleans.

– NMT –