Princeton Rugby Celebrates Reunions Weekend
The Haaga House Dedication was only one of a number of activities Princeton Rugby celebrated over Reunions weekend. Other events included celebrating the retirement of Coach Emil Signes at the Rugby Reception and Awards Ceremony.
Emil's Accomplishments
Emil had an impressive 10-year run for Princeton. His teams went to the USA Rugby Final Four in 2004 and 2005 and to the Round of 16 in 2006, 2012 and 2013. Emil is widely credited on the national level with getting the seven-a-side version of rugby into the Olympics, where USA Women’s and Men’s teams can qualify to compete against the World in Rio in 2016.
Celebrate!
The team’s top awards were announced at the Rugby Program’s annual Reunions Recognition event, before an audience of over 180 rugby alumni, parents and friends. 
Over the weekend, the University announced that the Men’s Rugby Club was named the top men’s sports club for the academic year, while it named the Women’s Rugby Club the top sports club at the University for the year. The Rugby Program at Princeton is the largest and oldest club sport on Campus.
On the Field
This year Women won the Ivy League Championship, won the Ivy League Sevens Championships and placed 3rd in the Nation in the USA Rugby collegiate sevens championships. In XVs, the team won 13 games and lost 3, with one tie. More than 40 players went on tour to Southern California to prepare for the Spring season. To attend the Haaga House dedication, the Women’s team declined an offer to again participate in the NBC Sports/College Rugby Championships, at which the team won 3rd place in June 2012 against some of the Nation’s largest universities, played simultaneously in Philadelphia over the weekend.
The Men won the Rickerson Cup/New Jersey State Intercollegiate Championships and the Koranda Cup against Yale this Spring. They placed 3rd in the Ivy League in XV, while winning 16 games, against 5 losses and a tie. They outscored their opponents in XVs by 637 to 319. The team was also 3rd in the Ivy League in Sevens. The students self-funded an international tour to the Cayman Islands during Spring Break in March.
Alumni Games
Both Alumni teams won narrow victories over the undergraduates in the annual exhibition matches, playing in 91-degree weather under sunny skies after two full evenings of Princeton Reunions activities.
The Men competed for the “Doc Whitton h31 Cup” for the 44th time. The Alumni, known as “The Flying Tigers” as they regularly go on tour internationally. By their win, 22-15, they moved the series record against the Students to 21-21, with 2 ties. The “Man of the Match” was Alex Wilson ’03, who scored a late try under the posts.
The Alumnae came from behind to secure a 15-12 to win over the students, with Ruth Bryson ’05 and Liz Inkellis ’07 combining for a late try.
By winning, the Women were awarded the “Alex Curtis – Emil Signes Cup” for the first time, recognizing the extraordinary success of these 2 Princeton Rugby coaches, who guided their teams to 2 national collegiate championships, 4 other Final Four appearances and other national tournament appearances during their combined tenures. Dr. Curtis is now headmaster of Choate-Rosemary Hall, a leading co-educational college-preparatory school. 
Both exhibition games were refereed by Aruna Ranaweera '98, one of USA’s top referees in international fixtures involving Scotland, Argentina, Italy, Romania, Georgia, and Namibia, among others.
The Princeton University Endowment Board announced the appointment Chris Ryan, Princeton’s Women’s Head Coach over the weekend.
PRINCETON RUGBY HISTORY
The earliest record of a Princeton Rugby Football Club is from 1876, spearheaded by a sophomore "Tommie" Woodrow Wilson, a member of the Class of 1879. Wilson later became President of Princeton University, then Governor of New Jersey and, later still, 28th President of the US.
After a lapse of a number of years as “gridiron football” gained ascendency, the Princeton University Rugby Football Club was re-established in 1930, and rugby has been played continuously on the Princeton University Campus ever since. Women's rugby at Princeton University has been played continuously since 1979. Princeton is one of the top collegiate Rugby Programs in the United States, and has been for most of the last 80 years of play.