Budd Bay Boys Win Washington HS 7s
Budd Bay out of Olympia, Wash. defeated Seattle 24-12 in the last game of the Rugby Washington Summer Sevens Series to win the state Boys HS 7s championship and a gold medal in the Washington State Games.
Hopkins Wins Minn Boys 7s
In the first game of the Minnesota Youth Rugby Boys HS 7s season, Minnetonka edged Hopkins 31-28.
After that game, both teams won five straight games to finish 1st and 2nd in the league. The Minnesota 7s league has five teams meet up every Thursday night for two game apiece, so after the July 23 tournament, Minnetonka sat 6-0, and Hopkins sat 5-1, with Eagan, North Suburban, and Minnetonka II rounding out the standings.
On Thursday, July 30 the top four teams met for the semifinals and finals. Hopkins and Minnetonka won their semis comfortably, and that set up a rematch of the season opener. This time, Hopkins won the close one, with MVP Webb Bolstad thundering through from 50 meters to score the game-winner in a 26-24 classic.
RugbyWa HS 7s Concludes Sunday
Teams in Rugby Washington will cap their Washington State Games Summer 7s Series season Sunday with the final tournament.
The multi-sport Washington State Games awards gold, silver, and bronze medals in a variety of sports, including rugby 7s. The teams are awarded points through the season based on their wins and losses (and ties). Instead of having a knockout round, each tournament has its teams play four games each event, with three points for a win, two for a tie, and one for a loss.
In the Boys U19 bracket, Seattle went 3-1 this past weekend, to bypass Budd Bay, who went 2-2, to take sole possession of 1st place. Seattle has 30 points and Budd Bay 28. Those two teams will almost certainly be the ones competing for the gold medal. The remaining four teams in the competition are in a virtual tie for 3rd, so it all comes down to Sunday.
NYC Program Develops HS 7s Players
The Winged Foot City Athlete 7s team won the Empire Gu 7s title in the High School boys bracket in their first year as a club.
Comprised of players from various clubs and high schools in the New York City area, including Xavier, Fordham Prep, Manhattan, Pelham, Queens, and Culver Military academy, the players went through an intense six weeks of training and five tournaments, culminating in a Plate win in the Blazin' 7s in NJ.
Following the success of the NYAC mens 15s team winning the D1 title this spring, City Athlete (an athletic training company based in NYC run by Alastair Greer, Neil McMillan, and Christian Mayo) wanted to create a pathway for high school players to develop their skills, and aspire to pull on the NYAC jersey in the future.
Stars & Stripes Making Players Better
The Stars & Stripes isn't a HS All American tour, but the week and the game at the end of that week held plenty of benefit for the players and the coaches.
"It was a great coaching group," said Jeff Bonnett, whose Stars Boys beat the Stripes 42-38. "From day one it was about getting all the players better as a group, even though we had separate teams, we practiced against each other and shared coaches to help the players to try and advance their skill levels. What's very exciting for USA rugby is that most of the seniors are committed to high-level colleges, and every one of the underclassmen improved during the camp."
Danville Wins NorCal HS 7s
The Danville Oaks won the Boys HS 7s in Northern California, defeating Jesuit 40-12 in the final.
In the Voys Varsity Gold bracket, Jesuit defeated Granite Bay 35-7 and Sierra Foothills 7-5 in pool play and Dixon 40-5 in the semis to make the final. Danville defeated Davis 28-12 and Dixon 31-21 in pool play before getting by Granite Bay to face Jesuit.
Leading the way for Danville was Lorenzo Richardson, while rising sophomore Kyle Van Tonder emerged with one of his better tournaments. Kyle Makaiwi, back from the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy tour, was used as a super sub and had a big impact for the Oaks.
Jesuit took the JV Gold, and Lamorinda won the Boys Varsity Silver bracket.
Photos by Wesley Van Tonder
Union Over Greenwich in Blazin 7s
The Union Mudturtles capped off a superb summer of 7s with two Empire 7s wins, the Hell’s Gate, and, this past weekend, the Blazin’ 7s in Morris Plains, NJ.
The Mudturtles beat Greenwich in the final 26-19, coming back form a 19-0 first-half deficit to score four tries in the second half.
Greenwich defeated Doylestown 40-5 and Bergen 38-7 in pool play before downing play Rugby USA 47-7 in the semifinals.
Jack Freiheit scored seven tries on the day, with Will Beney adding six and Bryce Stanback four.
Charlotte Selects Win Life U 7s
MARIETTA, Ga. - As an anchor university for rugby in the SouthEast, it was only a matter of time before Life U put itself in the mix as a big stop on the Summer U19 7s calendar. This past Saturday the university hosted its inaugural U19 7s tournament which was well attended by regional select teams. The five teams vying for the first Life U 7s HS Cup were:
South Carolina All Stars
Marietta HS Norsemen
National Athletic Village Selects (NAVS)
Alpharetta Phoenix
Charlotte Junior Rugby Association (CJRA) Selects
The format called for each team to play every other team once, with the top two finishers playing a finals match, making for a long five-match day for the top two finishers
England Players Meet HS Standouts
The Stars & Stripes boys players ran into the England national team Saturday after both completed their camps in Colorado.
The England team was hosted by Glendale Rugby during July, getting some altitude work in. The Stars & Stripes players finished up their camp in Greeley, Colo. The two groups of rugby players met up in the Denver airport, and the England players graciously posed for a few photos with the American kids.
Here are three shots of Owen Duvall of the Coastal Dragons of Southern California with George Ford, Dan Cole, and Joe Marler.
Stars & Stripes Boys Wrap
The Stars & Stripes week ended for 44 highly-regarded high school boys rugby players Saturday with the Stars & Stripes game in Greeley, Colo.
The Stars fell behind early and then came back in a high-scoring game to win 42-38. But more than that, the game was the culmination of a week of work with their respective coaching staffs.
Middle School Rugby Rising in South
Quietly, for the last five plus year, middle school rugby has been blooming in pockets throughout the South. Around Atlanta, Charlotte, the Raleigh/ Durham area, Richmond and other Virginia cities, and across Tennessee there are middle school rugby football clubs that all have multiple seasons under their belts. The explosive growth at the under high school level is not flying under the radar anymore. The first crop of players from these clubs are now making a huge impact on their states’ junior varsity all-star teams.
Washington Selects Young Select Side for Canada Trip
The Rugby Washington Boys Loggers rep-side has announced 22 players selected for a U14/U15 Development Squad to play in a select side tournament in Kelowna, BC August 7-9.
Teams from British Columbia and Alberta will also be there.
"This program is intended to identify and develop future players for the Washington Boys Loggers JV and Varsity side,” said LoggersDirector and Head Coach Steve Brennan. “Like other Loggers tours, we will expose players to an environment of ‘rep-side’ rugby, as we begin to prepare them for higher-level rugby at the High School All-American and collegiate level.”
Illustrating the influence of “rugby families” on young players, the squad includes the younger siblings of several older Loggers, including Bradleys (Charles & Sam), Mohns (Isaac & Tristan), Sarginson (Colsen & Caden).
Boys Stars & Stripes Announced
USA Rugby has released, finally, its list of boys high school players for the Stars & Stripes camp this week.
The camp will once again be held at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo.
Boys High School All-American Head Coach Salty Thompson will oversee the camp, but the two teams will have their own coaching staffs. They will train during the week and play a game on Saturday, July 25.
Each squad will train leading up to the Stars vs. Stripes game, with on-field training augmented by nutritional meetings, classroom sessions, and ice-bath recovery time.
The boys teams will also be advised by USA Rugby HP Coaching Manager Luke Gross.
West Chester Rebounds to Win Boys Open Surfside
The West Chester Boys team out of Pennsylvania rebounded from an opening loss to win four games in a row and take the Surfside 7s American High School 7s Championships Boys Open Division Sunday.
West Chester opened the tournament on Saturday with a 27-7 loss to Conestoga before ending pool play with 33-0 shutouts of Roman Catholic and Coventry.
On Sunday, West Chester edged previously unbeaten State Island to make the final, where they met Conestoga once more, and this time won 24-14.
“The guys just never quit,” said Coach Lou Raymond. "They showed so much heart."
The West Chester Wolf Pack is made up of players from the three schools in the West Chester, Pa., school district. The team has had its successes – their 15s team was 5-1 in conference play this past spring.
Budd Bay Makes Move in RugbyWa 7s
The Budd Bay Barbarians U19 team joined Seattle at the top of the Rugby Washington Boys U19 Summer Sevens Series.
The Series is part of the Subway-sponsored Washington State Games, and culminates after four tournaments on August 2.
Budd Bay defeated Seattle, Liberty, and Rainier Plateau before falling in a close one to Eastside to go 3-1 on the day. That caught them up with Seattle, giving both teams 20 points for the season. (The tournaments are set up to give all teams four games in a day, with three points for a win, two for a tie, and one for a loss. Those points are tallied for the season.)
