2015 USARL season

The 2015 USA Rugby League season was the fifth season of the USA Rugby League National Premiership competition, and its first as the undisputed top-level rugby league competition in the United States. Fourteen teams competed for the USARL Championship. The season began on Saturday, May 30, and concluded with the Championship Final on Saturday, August 29, in Jacksonville, Florida. The Boston Thirteens won their first USARL Championship, defeating the Atlanta Rhinos 44-12.

2015 USA Rugby League
Teams14
Premiers Boston Thirteens (1st title)
Minor premiers Philadelphia Fight (3rd title)

Teams

In the wake of the folding of the AMNRL, the USARL was left as the undisputed top-level rugby league competition in the United States. Three teams joined the USARL from the AMNRL: Bucks County Sharks, Connecticut Wildcats, and New York Knights. The Delaware Black Foxes joined as an expansion squad. After several unsuccessful seasons, the Baltimore Blues left the competition.

North Conference
Northeast Division
Colors Club City State Stadium Foundation Joined
 Boston Thirteens Boston  Massachusetts MIT Steinbrenner Stadium 2009 2011
 Brooklyn Kings Brooklyn  New York Midwood Athletic Complex 2014 2014
 Connecticut Wildcats Greenwich  Connecticut Cardinal Stadium 2003 2015
 New York Knights New York City  New York The Castle Pier 40 2001 2015
 Rhode Island Rebellion Providence  Rhode Island Classical High School 2011 2011
Mid-Atlantic Division
Colors Club City State Stadium Foundation Joined
 Bucks County Sharks Levittown  Pennsylvania Falls Township Community Park 1998 2015
 D.C. Slayers Washington  Washington Duke Ellington Field 2003 2011
 Delaware Black Foxes Wilmington  Delaware Eden Park Stadium 2015 2015
 Northern Virginia Eagles Manassas  Virginia Grizzly Sports Complex 2007 2014
 Philadelphia Fight Conshohocken  Pennsylvania A. A. Garthwaite Stadium 1998 2011
South Conference
Colors Club City State Stadium Foundation Joined
 Atlanta Rhinos Atlanta  Georgia Atlanta Silverbacks Park 2014 2014
 Central Florida Warriors DeLand  Florida Spec Martin Stadium 2014 2014
 Jacksonville Axemen Jacksonville  Florida Hodges Stadium 2006 2011
 Tampa Mayhem Tampa Bay  Florida Larry Sanders Field 2014 2014

Regular season

Teams in the South Conference played 6 games on a double round-robin schedule. Teams in the North Conference played 8 games, primarily within their own division. A win was worth 2 points, a draw worth 1 point, and a loss worth 0 points. There were no bonus points for number of tries or close losses.[1]

Final regular-season standings.

Playoffs

For 2015, the USARL further extended the division and conference playoff structure introduced in 2014. In the South Conference, the teams with the best and worst records, and the second- and third-best records, played each other in the South Conference Semi-Finals. The winners met in the South Conference Final. In the North Conference, the teams with the second- and third-best records in each division played each other in the North Conference Division Semi-Finals. The winners played the teams with the best records in their respective divisions in the North Conference Divisional Finals. The winners of the Divisional Finals played in the North Conference Final. The winners of the Conference Finals met in the Championship Final.

Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue Referee Crowd
North Conference Divisional Semi-Finals
Rhode Island Rebellion 54 - 34 Brooklyn Kings August 1
Northern Virginia Eagles 76 - 36 D.C. Slayers August 1
North Conference Divisional Finals
Boston Thirteens 80 - 4 Rhode Island Rebellion August 8
Philadelphia Fight 60 - 12 Northern Virginia Eagles August 8
South Conference Semi-Finals
Atlanta Rhinos 32 - 26 Tampa Mayhem July 25
Central Florida Warriors 44 - 14 Jacksonville Axemen August 1
Conference Finals
Philadelphia Fight 12 - 20 Boston Thirteens August 15
Atlanta Rhinos 32 - 28 Central Florida Warriors August 15
Championship Final
Boston Thirteens 44 - 12 Atlanta Rhinos August 29

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-08-22. Retrieved 2014-09-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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