Princeton played Rutgers University in 1869 the first United States intercollegiate game, which, according to U.S. Soccer, used rules that resembled rugby union and association football and had little resemblance to gridiron American football[1] as the teams were able to pick up and run with the ball but were not able to make a forward pass nor was there a line of scrimmage where a center snapped the ball but rather a scrum where players battled to gain possession.

[2] The men's team agreed to only play using rugby union code rules on November 23, 1876 when Princeton Yale, Harvard, and Columbia met at the Massasoit House in Springfield, Massachusetts and formed the Intercollegiate Football Association.

[9] Indeed by 1893, forty thousand (40,000) spectators showed up to watch Princeton play Yale on Thanksgiving in New York’s Manhattan Field.

[11] A letter to the Varsity, a sports paper in Oxford, reviewed Herring’s stellar career at Princeton and Oxford, reported that he was caricatured in a cartoon in The Tatler, an English sporting magazine, and detailed that he created a sensation in America by stating in a 1910 letter to The Daily Princetonian that British rugby football was a better game than the American Football game.

[12] In 1910 "Heff" Herring was hired by Woodrow Wilson just months before Wilson was elected Governor of New Jersey, but is better known for his military service in both world wars and acquiring one of the finest arts and crafts homes near campus, the Donald Grant Herring Estate[13] Princeton rugby was reorganized in 1931 under the leadership of Monte Barak, Hugh Sloan H.F. Langenberg, and coach John Boardman Whitton.

[citation needed] Since then, the sport has grown quickly across America and PUWRFC has continually found itself at the top levels of Division I competition.

Throughout the team's history, PUWRFC has often won the MARFU Championship, the Ivy League Tournament, and has secured several bids to the Sweet Sixteen.

Princeton University’s West Windsor fields were the site of a week-long USA Rugby Collegiate All-Star selection camp in 2009.

The rugby club holds gatherings on the porch, such as post-game socials and alumni events, and utilizes the Inn's boardroom for executive meetings.

The following year, Yale accepted Princeton's request by creating a trophy in memory of Rob Koranda.

[36] Rob died in a Chicago porch collapse in June 2003, a tragedy that claimed 12 other young lives.

Participants have included Drew, Fairleigh Dickinson, Montclair, NJIT, Princeton, Rowan, Rutgers, Seton Hall, TCNJ, and William Patterson.

Since the 2010 tournament, the players have helped raise awareness and call for more research funding for pancreatic cancer organizations.

The Doc Whitton Cup is contested annually between current undergraduate players and returning alumni during reunions.

Phil Rogers' 79 Memorial Prize: A winner will be recognized annually for his or her unique leadership and sportsmanship qualities, both on and off the rugby field.

Past tours have included travel to Bermuda,[43] England, Martinique, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina,[44] Ireland,[45] Barbados,[46] and the Cayman Islands.

[50] Alumni Tours, where former players travel abroad to compete and reconnect with their teammates, have been popular events since Princeton Rugby's early days.

Recently, the "Flying Tigers" have had great success, beating the Curaçao, BVI, and USVI National Teams in 2013.