Commerce City, Colo. — A heavy college influence helped the Rugby Utah Men's 7s team go undefeated throughout the 2016 USA Rugby Club 7s National Championships to win its first national title.

Rugby Utah defeated the Kansas City Blues in the final 48-12.

“It’s been a long summer and it’s a huge credit to our guys,” said Rugby Utah National Development Academy (NDA) head coach Ben Nicholls, “But these guys came together well and got the job done.”

Rugby Utah captain Don Pati, a former University of Utah All American who helped lead his Utes to the 2010 Collegiate Rugby Championship, was named the 2016 USA Rugby Club 7s MVP.

“The boys played hard,” Pati said, “We came out to represent our friends, our family and the state of Utah and we came out firing in the final. The boys did so well over the weekend and it was just an awesome way to end things with this team.”

Utah beat Little Rock 38-5, Belmont Shore 21-10, and NOVA 26-22 in pool play.

They then went on to beat the Seattle Saracens 33-5 in the quarterfinals, Old Blue 28-14 in the semis, and then KC. While Pati graduated from the Utah Utes a few years ago, some current college players were also on the team. Josh Anderson, Joseph Nicholls, Jared Whippy, and former HS All American Zach Webber were all undergrads with BYU this past season. Jason Pye and Naki Angilau were also former U. Utah stars.

The entire roster was as follows: Robbie Ah Sue, Park City Haggis/Utah Brothers 7s; Vernon Ale, Mana Rugby; Josh Anderson, Brigham Young University; Naki Angilau, West Valley Lions; Iaone Iaone, Salt Lake Gladiators; Pei Kuli, Provo Steelers/Humless 7s; Joseph Nicholls, Brigham Young University; Peni Pahulu, Provo Steelers/Humless 7s; Don Pati, Park City Haggis ©; Jason Pye, Park City Haggis; Jared Whippy, Brigham Young University; Zach Webber, Brigham Young University

Pati was especially complimentary of Whippy.

“Jared was perfect with his restarts,” Pati said, “We knew we had an opportunity there, but we didn’t expect things to go the way they did. It was fun to see all the guys get in on the scoring.”

“The team did a great job with the challenge we set out at the beginning of the season,” Director of Operations for the NDA Steve St. Pierre said. St. Pierre is a former captain of BYU and a former collegiate All American. “We wanted to represent our state with class and show the pathway of opportunities for our state’s players. Winning a national championship in just our first attempt would be a huge task, but that’s a credit to Ben Nicholls and Jeff Hullinger for their leadership and of course the entire group of players who helped set up this opportunity for the twelve men who represented our state admirably this weekend.”

The Rugby Utah NDA program will now look to build on the momentum from this weekend’s championship as it turns its attention to the Serevi RugbyTown 7s in Glendale, CO August 26-28. Rugby Utah will play in Pool C alongside the ATAVUS All-Stars, Atlantis 7s, British Army and Denver Rugby 7s.