Sunderland, UK — History will be made this summer as the top collegiate players in the country are set to embark on the first-ever women’s All-American XVs tour from August 17 - 31. The tour, which is part of NCR's High Performance Program, was intentionally synced with the start of 2025 Women’s World Cup. The pairing gives participating players a chance to not only compete against high level international competition themselves, but also cheer on the USA women’s national team in person as the Eagles square off against some of the top teams in the world.

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“When we sat down and said let's create a 10-year roadmap, this is where we put the stake in the ground: that the women have to be at this event. We need to be in England alongside the World Cup,” said tour director, and University of Michigan head coach, Jamie Frech. “We need to make that part of the experience. And I think we've done a really great job, with the help of a lot of people, pulling this together to make it happen.”

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Discussions around the tour to England began as early as 2021, according to Frech, with the goal of the ten-year roadmap being to stand up legitimate high-performance pathways for collegiate men and women and to strengthen the talent pipeline ahead of the Men’s World Cup held in the USA in 2031 and the Women’s World Cup in the US in 2033. 

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For NCR’s High Performance guru Thomas Clark, getting Frech involved in the high-performance program from the very beginning was an easy decision.

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“Jamie was the first person I called,” said Clark, “I’ve really appreciated her efforts to have our vision come true and get this thing off the ground. I feel confident saying that without her, we couldn’t have done it.”

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Much of the work in the leadup to this tour involved selecting the players to participate and then connecting those players to start building camaraderie. Unlike the men’s tour to France in 2024, the women will not benefit from an in-person training camp ahead of the trip that would really give them a chance to gel. That duty has fallen on Frech to get these players, who are from all over the country and are used to playing against each other at postseason compts, to connect virtually before flying to England.

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“The way that they're communicating already is really telling to me,” Frech explained. “They're heckling each other. They're talking about their strengths and weaknesses … I think we're going to put something really special on the field, and I can't wait to see that, win or lose.”

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The first challenge for the squad will come on August 20, when they take on a North East Student Select XVs side at Cochrane Park. The team will conclude the tour with a match against a full North East XVs side at Kingston Park Stadium on August 29. North East XV Rugby is a high-performance program that draws the top women’s rugby talent together from that region of the UK. 

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Both matches will take place at 7pm British Summer Time and will be streamed live on NCR’s YouTube page. You can also follow along on NCR’s High Performance social channels.

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Between those two matches, the team will attend the opening match of the 2025 World Cup between the USA and hosts England in Sunderland, as well as the USA v Australia group stage match in York. A welcome respite from the pressure of international competition.

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“I couldn’t be happier to see the women take off and enjoy this experience. I’m stoked that they get to go and be at the World Cup, similar to the men being at the world cup two years ago. It’s a life changing experience for these kids,” said Clark. “These players all aspire to play at a higher level, but they’re all also rugby people, so they get to just enjoy the experience of being at the World Cup.”

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The 2025 World Cup comes at a time when the women’s game has experienced unprecedented growth, internationally as well as in the US following the attainment of an Olympic 7s bronze medal.

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“I started playing rugby in the late nineties and I never thought we would see something like this in my lifetime,” Frech explained. “It’s great to feel like the women's track is respected and equitable across the board. NCR has always made it very clear that we have men's programs and women's programs and we run them the same, just like the laws, right? So everything is very connected.”

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And while the World Cup tour is just a starting point for women’s collegiate high performance rugby, it also caps off a historic three-tour summer for NCR’s high performance program overall. The program took men’s and women’s sides to Portugal for the Algarve 7s tournament in early June. The men’s All-Americans followed that up with a 13-10 victory over Ballynahinch Rugby Football Club (Hinch) in Boston a few weeks later. And, in a massive step for the program, NCR men were invited to enter a side in this year’s Rugbytown 7s tournament taking place later this month.

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“If we hadn’t done Portugal or Boston, or if we weren’t sending our women to the UK, arguably they may not ever have access to those pathways to play,” said Clark “This increased exposure for the athletes and coaches that’s what’s important to me.”

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“I feel very passionate about the fact that more rugby is better,” echoed Frech. “And putting more kids in high performance environments is the way we need to get there, to really see what we can do in future World Cups, especially the World Cup in America.”

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