# 2017 Women's Premier League Rugby season

The 2017 Women's Premier League Rugby season was the ninth season of the Women's Premier League in the United States. It began on September 2 and involved 10 teams.

## Format

For the first time, the WPL raised its numbers from eight teams to ten teams with Chicago North Shore Rugby and Beantown RFC joining the league. This was also the first year the Glendale Raptors changed their names to the Glendale Merlins due to the Glendale Raptors name being used by the newly formed Major League Rugby team.
The ten teams were divided into two conferences, Red and Blue, comprising five teams. They each played eight conference games, one home and one away, with two bye weeks. The WPL season occurred in the fall, concurrently with the regular women's club season, with the National Championship being held in November 10–12.
For the Finals, teams were seeded based on the results of their conference during the regular season. The top four teams competed for the Cup and the bottom six teams for the Bowl.

## Conference standings
### Blue Conference

| Pos. | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
| 1 | Glendale Merlins | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 197 | 133 | 64 | 35 |
| 2 | San Diego Surfers | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 201 | 139 | 62 | 24 |
| 3 | Berkeley All Blues | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 233 | 178 | 55 | 22 |
| 4 | Oregon Sports Union | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 162 | 259 | −97 | 13 |
| 5 | Chicago North Shore Rugby | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 99 | 183 | −84 | 10 |

### Red Conference

| Pos. | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
| 1 | New York Rugby Club | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 339 | 105 | 234 | 39 |
| 2 | Beantown RFC | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 186 | 156 | 30 | 28 |
| 3 | Twin Cities Amazons | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 226 | 182 | 44 | 21 |
| 4 | Atlanta Harlequins | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 117 | 174 | −57 | 12 |
| 5 | DC Furies | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 58 | 309 | −251 | 0 |

## Matches
### Week 1

* 2 September 2017
| Beantown RFC | 39–22 | Atlanta Harlequins |
* 2 September 2017
| Berkeley All Blues | 26–27 | Glendale Merlins |
* 3 September 2017
| Twin Cities Amazons | 48–19 | DC Furies |

### Week 2

* 9 September 2017
| Berkeley All Blues | 32–10 | Oregon Sports Union |
* 9 September 2017
| Glendale Merlins | 20–6 | Chicago North Shore Rugby |
* 10 September 2017
| Twin Cities Amazons | 26–12 | Atlanta Harlequins |
* 10 September 2017
| Beantown RFC | 19–43 | New York Rugby Club |

### Week 3

* 16 September 2017
| DC Furies | 5–17 | Beantown RFC |
* 16 September 2017
| San Diego Surfers | 15–21 | Glendale Merlins |
* 16 September 2017
| Oregon Sports Union | 24–17 | Chicago North Shore Rugby |
* 16 September 2017
| Atlanta Harlequins | 0–21 | New York Rugby Club |

### Week 4

* 23 September 2017
| San Diego Surfers | 42–27 | Oregon Sports Union |
* 24 September 2017
| Chicago North Shore Rugby | 29–17 | Berkeley All Blues |
* 24 September 2017
| Atlanta Harlequins | 35–7 | DC Furies |
* 24 September 2017
| Twin Cities Amazons | 41–53 | New York Rugby Club |

### Week 5

* 30 September 2017
| Berkeley All Blues | 34–15 | San Diego Surfers |
* 30 September 2017
| Glendale Merlins | 32–17 | Oregon Sports Union |
* 1 October 2017
| New York Rugby Club | 68–0 | DC Furies |
* 1 October 2017
| Beantown RFC | 27–17 | Twin Cities Amazons |

### Week 6

* 7 October 2017
| Chicago North Shore Rugby | 0–35 | San Diego Surfers |
* 7 October 2017
| Glendale Merlins | 29–14 | Berkeley All Blues |
* 8 October 2017
| Atlanta Harlequins | 8–15 | Beantown RFC |
* 8 October 2017
| DC Furies | 7–36 | Twin Cities Amazons |
* 8 October 2017
| Chicago North Shore Rugby | 8–12 | San Diego Surfers |

### Week 7

* 14 October 2017
| Chicago North Shore Rugby | 10–10 | Glendale Merlins |
* 15 October 2017
| Atlanta Harlequins | 3–25 | Twin Cities Amazons |
* 15 October 2017
| Beantown RFC | 8–38 | New York Rugby Club |
* 15 October 2017
| Oregon Sports Union | 28–52 | Berkeley All Blues |

### Week 8

* 21 October 2017
| Chicago North Shore Rugby | 14–17 | Oregon Sports Union |
* 21 October 2017
| Glendale Merlins | 27–18 | San Diego Surfers |
* 22 October 2017
| Beantown RFC | 32–5 | DC Furies |
* 22 October 2017
| New York Rugby Club | 36–12 | Atlanta Harlequins |

### Week 9

* 28 October 2017
| Berkeley All Blues | 48–15 | Chicago North Shore Rugby |
* 28 October 2017
| Oregon Sports Union | 12–39 | San Diego Surfers |
* 29 October 2017
| Twin Cities Amazons | 18–29 | Beantown RFC |
* 29 October 2017
| DC Furies | 10–48 | New York Rugby Club |

### Week 10

* 4 November 2017
| San Diego Surfers | 25–10 | Berkeley All Blues |
* 4 November 2017
| Oregon Sports Union | 27–31 | Glendale Merlins |
* 5 November 2017
| DC Furies | 5–25 | Atlanta Harlequins |
* 5 November 2017
| New York Rugby Club | 32–15 | Twin Cities Amazons |

## Playoffs
### Bowl Semi-finals

* 10 November 2017
| Oregon Sports Union | 56–7 | DC Furies |
* 10 November 2017
| Atlanta Harlequins | 5–24 | Chicago North Shore Rugby |
* 10 November 2017
| Berkeley All Blues | 41–29 | Twin Cities Amazons |

### Cup Semi-finals

* 10 November 2017
| Glendale Merlins | 32–0 | Beantown RFC |
* 10 November 2017
| New York Rugby Club | 38–32 | San Diego Surfers |

### Bowl Finals
#### 9th place Final

* 12 November 2017
| DC Furies | 10–34 | Atlanta Harlequins |

#### 7th place Final

* 12 November 2017
| Twin Cities Amazons | 34–17 | Chicago North Shore Rugby |

#### 5th place Finals

* 12 November 2017
| Berkeley All Blues | 37–10 | Oregon Sports Union |

### Cup Finals
#### 3rd place Final

* 12 November 2017
| San Diego Surfers | 47–14 | Beantown RFC |

#### Grand Final

* 12 November 2017
| Glendale Merlins | 26–27 | New York Rugby Club |