{"id":430687,"date":"2026-01-22T20:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/430687\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T20:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:23:09","slug":"national-collegiate-rugby-announces-elite-womens-pathways-and-return-to-portugal-at-atlanta-all-star-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/430687\/","title":{"rendered":"National Collegiate Rugby Announces Elite Women\u2019s Pathways and Return to Portugal at Atlanta All-Star Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ATLANTA, GA \u2013 This Saturday, January 24, National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) will host the 2026 Women\u2019s All-Star Championship, the most significant assembly of women\u2019s collegiate talent. The event will feature over 340 elite athletes competing in a high-intensity environment designed to bridge the gap between collegiate success and the professional ranks.<\/p>\n<p>\u200d<\/p>\n<p>While the event serves as a premier competition, its primary function is as a centralized scouting hub. Official representatives from and Women\u2019s Elite Rugby (WER) will be conducting live evaluations to identify players for national team high-performance camps and the burgeoning domestic professional landscape.<\/p>\n<p>\u200d<\/p>\n<p>For the second consecutive year, the Women\u2019s High-Performance 7s team will travel to Portugal for the prestigious Algarve 7s (June 5-7). Following a historic run last year where the NCR side reached the finals\u2014falling short in a hard-fought championship match\u2014the 2026 squad returns with the goal of securing the title.<\/p>\n<p>\u200d<\/p>\n<p>Broadening the scope of professional opportunity, NCR is expanding its landmark partnership with Australia\u2019s National Rugby League (NRL) to provide a direct link to the NRLW, the world\u2019s premier women\u2019s professional league. Selectors will identify 15 standout athletes to form the NRLW-NCR Select Team. This squad will receive a fully-funded invitation to the Vegas 9s Tournament in late February, offering a direct audition for professional scouts and potential trials in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u200d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the 7s circuit, performance in Atlanta will dictate the player pool for the summer XVs cycle. NCR High-Performance staff is currently finalizing a Women\u2019s XVs assembly and international match slated for mid-August, ensuring a year-round development pathway for the nation&#8217;s top collegiate talent.<\/p>\n<p>\u200d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis weekend represents a fundamental shift in how we develop women\u2019s talent in the United States,\u201d said Alycia Washington, NCR Women\u2019s Director. \u201cWith over 340 players in Atlanta, we are seeing the depth of the women&#8217;s game grow at an exponential rate. From the pitches in Georgia to the stadium in Portugal, the pathway to professional rugby has never been more visible or more attainable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u200d<\/p>\n<p>Streaming &amp; Access Fans can follow the action live through multiple platforms. Stadium matches will be featured on <a href=\"http:\/\/tv.ncr.rugby\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NCR TV<\/a> via a $12.99 weekend pass, while outer field competition will be available for free on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/nationalcollegiaterugby\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u200d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA, GA \u2013 This Saturday, January 24, National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) will host the 2026 Women\u2019s All-Star Championship,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-430687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}