Wheeling, W. Va. - With the 7's season right around the corner, National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) is getting ready to host their annual 2026 Men's All Star Shield Challenge. For the second year in a row, the Cardinals will be sending 10 representatives to the event, with three on the All Star team and six on the Rising Star team. Both squads will compete for the National Shield Championship across two days of competition at Silverbacks Park in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, January 17th and Sunday, January 18th.
The National Shield Challenge officially begins on Saturday, with both the All Stars and the Rising Stars beginning their schedules. The tournament is a double elimination event, with winners moving in and losers battling it out in consolation brackets. On the All Star side, the field is split into eight teams, featuring four quarterfinal matches on Saturday morning. The winners will move on to play in the semifinals later that night. Winners will be put on track for the Tournament championship, while losers will branch out to the 3rd and 5th place semifinal matches. Sunday will feature the final matches to determine 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th place in the tournament.
For the rising Stars, the tournament will feature four teams, each representing a different region of the country. The four teams, representing the North, South, East, and West will see the teams battle each other in Round Robin action over the two days of competition. They will begin on Saturday at 8:30 AM, with each of the four teams getting the chance to play each other. Sunday will feature the final two pool games, with the standings determining who will play in the Championship match Sunday night, and who will be competing for third place prior to that. The Cardinals have had at least one player named to the All-Tournament team in each of the past two seasons, and they look to once again make a big impact this weekend.
Wheeling will have players featured on both teams, with five of those competing for the Rising Stars East team. James Holland, Brandt Pawlowski, Jose Lawal, Benjamin Andrews, Ntsika Mduba, and Chris Mathebula will represent the Cardinals on the East team, with the Cardinals having the most representatives of any team on the East roster. They will join a roster that features some of the top young players from the East Region from schools like the University of Kentucky, Purdue, and Rio Grande. The East Team's run will begin on Saturday at 9:45 AM when they battle the team from the West. They will finish the day against the North at 1:30 PM, with their final Pool Game coming Sunday at 12:45 PM against the south team. Along with the representation on the field, the Cardinals will also have a representative on the sideline, with Head Men's Rugby Coach Maxwell Hamilton serving as the manager for the rising stars East team.
On the All Star squad, the Cardinals will have three representatives, with all three also being featured on the Atlantic Rugby Conference (ARC) All-Conference team. Taku Musingwini, Alex Nyamunda, and Navin Couch will all suit up for the Great Lakes Thunderbirds All-Star squad, with all three having played for the team in the past. The Cardinals are one of two ARC teams represented on the list, joining Walsh who has six players on the squad. Like the Rising Stars East Team, the Great Lakes Thunderbirds will also start their run Saturday at 9:45 AM when they battle the Tri State Foundry. It is the only scheduled game so far, with the rest of the tournament being based on how they perform on the field. If the Thunderbirds win, they will play in the Semifinal match at 4 PM on Saturday, while a loss takes them to the 5th place semifinal match, also at 4 PM.
The 2026 NCR Men's All Star Shield Challenge begins on Saturday, January 17th, with the East team taking on the West at 9:45 AM and the Great Lakes Thunderbirds battling the Tri State Foundry at 9:45 AM. For a look at the entire schedule and live stream information for the weekend, click HERE.
