Keystone Rugby Club

WHO IS KEYSTONE RUGBY CLUB?

Keystone was founded in 2001 by seven experienced women’s rugby players to become a premier women’s rugby club in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.  These visionary players saw the demand and need for an additional competitive rugby team in the Philadelphia region that created an atmosphere of support and encouragement for all players to reach their personal fitness and rugby goals.  Keystone focuses on a type of rugby called Rugby Union and participates in both 15-a-side (XV’s) and 7-a-side games (7’s).

Early success and strong recruitment showed that Keystone was a viable team both at home and abroad when the team took the Canadian Ottawa Tournament Championship in 2002 and 2003.  In 2003 the club joined the Northeast Rugby Union (NRU) in order to play some of the highest level teams in the nation.  This transition proved to be tremendous for the team when it won the Can-Am Tournament in Saranac Lake, NY in 2004, and quickly rose to national prominence by placing 7^th out of over 30 National USA Rugby Division I women’s clubs in 2005.  Since 2005 Keystone has been back to the National Championship stage every year, raising their national ranking to 5^th place for 2007 and 2008.

In 2008 USA Rugby established a Premiership women’s rugby league, inviting only the top eight teams in the country, including Keystone.  Keystone will play in the ultra-competitive East Coast matrix bracket that includes New York Women’s Rugby Club, ranked #2 in the nation, and Beantown Rugby Club, ranked #4 in the nation.  This is a high honor for a team as young as Keystone and will require even more dedication to team goals.