The Raleigh Venom women's rugby team will be heading for the national championships soon, and the team is making a final push to fund the trip.

The Venom, part of the Raleigh Rugby Football Club, will play again for the women's Division II championship in the Nov. 11-15 tournament in Mesa, Ariz.

To help the players offset the approximately $12,000 cost of the trip, an announcement from the RRFC Board of Directors said, donations can be made via PayPal on the club's website.

The Raleigh Venom
made a leap from fourth to first on Sunday and won the USA Rugby
Division II women's rugby club national championship in Houston,
defeating the Pittsburgh Angels 12-0.

The Venom squeaked into the national semifinals as the No. 4 seed with their play on Saturday.

In Sunday morning's semifinal, the Venom started slowly but surged to
defeat the Providence Rugby Football Club 31-5 and win a place in the
title game, Venom representative Erik Krupa said.

The Raleigh Venom women’s rugby team defeated Brandywine (Md.) 22-12
on Saturday and the Maryland Stingers 18-0 on Sunday in Baltimore to
win the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union playoff championship.

Raleigh earned a place in the Nov. 7-8 Division II national tournament in Houston.

On
Saturday, you can see the Venom in action when the team hosts N.C.
State at noon at the Raleigh Rugby Football Club, 7417 Poole Road,
about four miles east of the Beltline. The Raleigh Vipers men’s team
will host the Washington Furies at 2 p.m., and a B-side men’s game will
follow at 3:30.

List five popular sports in the Triangle, and rugby probably won't be
on your list. But don't think the sport isn't played here - and played
very well.

The Raleigh Rugby Football Club
is a long-established organization that has collected several men's and
women's national championships in recent years, and the club's
two-pitch complex on 15 1/2 acres off Poole Road is top-notch, hosting
national and international competitions.

Rugby fans and curious spectators can see the Vipers men and Venom
women in action and perhaps meet current and former players on
Saturday, Oct. 3, when the club conducts a homecoming event and three
of its teams play regular-season matches. Admission for the matches is
free.