The Toronto Reds won the NY 7s Boys Premier championship for the second time in a row, Saturday.
The Reds beat Atlantis 25-15 in the final on a chilly evening at Randall’s Island in New York City.
It wasn’t all Toronto Reds over the day’s play, however, as they were edged 19-14 by Atlantis in their opening pool match.
Atlantis went on to win all four of their pool matches, beating Upright Rugby, Greenwich, and a very tough SC Barbarians side. That put them in the semis while the Reds beat Play Rugby, Greenwich, and Berks County to go 3-1 and also make the semis.
In the semifinal round Atlantis won comfortably over Greenwich 43-5 while Toronto held off the SC Barbarians 19-10.
The Barbarians were certainly the third best team of the day, beating Play Rugby, Upright, and Berks, and losing to the two finalists by a combined score of 39-27, which was far, far closer than anyone else managed.
“As the reigning champs we want to keep that dynasty going,” Toronto Reds (and Aurora Barbarians) player Oliver Policelli told NY 7s king of all media Ski Bailey.
“We lost our first game,” said Griffin Skinner, also an Aurora product. “That’s an opportunity for us to bounce back.”
Which is what they did.
Girls Premier
The Utah Cannibals also faltered early, losing to The Rugby Advantage 31-19 in their opening match. Interestingly, both the Cannibals and Reds lost to teams that had already played a game.
While TRA went on to beat Atlantis, USA West, and Upright to go 4-0, and Utah also beat those teams. And if you wanted a reason why the Cannibals might be in better shape than The Rugby Advantage, you could look at the points they game up against those other teams—TRA gave up 40 while the Cannibals gave up only 24.
In the semis The Rugby Advantage won 31-12 over USA West while the Cannibals had to work hard to beat Atlantis 31-21. (Atlantis went on to take 3rd comfortably.)
In the final, the Cannibals turned the tables drastically on The Rugby Advantage, winning the championship match 43-14.
Players coming from top programs such as United, Majestics, and more, the Cannibals just needed time to warm up.
Fane Tausinga, Majestics, who will be with the USA U1s in New Zealand in December. “Really cold, but it’s so fun seeing everyone here and playing in this city.”
