2011 Mizzou Rugby

Missouri opened the year at the Oak Leaf Cup in Nashville, putting 52 points on Lee University and 47 on the host side, Vanderbilt, to reach the championship match. In November came the club's first conference fixture since moving up to Division 1 play — a 31–29 win at Oklahoma in Norman.

The spring was the club's best in years: an unbeaten run through the inaugural Heart of America Conference, a sweep of a five-match sevens tournament without conceding a try in four of them, a late win over Arkansas that Rugby Mag headlined “Mizzou Clips Arkansas Late,” and a 41–10 win over Kansas State that sealed the conference. Missouri reached 18th in the national Division 1-AA rankings and traveled to Madison for a Sweet 16 tie with Wisconsin.

The Tigers had stepped up from Division II to Division I at the end of the previous season and opened this one with a 48–28 win over Illinois. They did it without a coach: senior captains Daniel Kloeckener and Mark Menne ran the practices and picked the side themselves. Around thirty-five players were turning out for twenty places on the traveling roster, so sessions routinely became scrimmages. Sophomore forward Ryan Schiedt was singled out as the standout newcomer. The club had taken third at the Vanderbilt tournament the year before and returned to it that September expecting to win.

Six Missouri players made the Heart of America All-Star squad that November — the club's strongest representation to that point.