NA Lions Girls Win in Heidelberg; Boys Take 3rd

06.18.2023Elite 7s

Here's a report on Sunday's action from the Heidelberg 7s in Germany, where three North American programs fielding six teams have been in competition.

See our pool play report here: Strong North American Showing at Heidelberg 7s

Girls U18

The North American Lions won the Girls U18 bracket.

Having won their pool on Saturday the Lions were matched up with the Dog River Howlers of Canada in the semifinals. This proved to be their toughest game of the tournament, with the Lions prevailing 15-12.

German team RBW defeated Dubai 21-7 in the other semi. That set up the final which the Lions won 22-12 to take the Cup.

Dog River beat Dubai 26-7 for this. Meanwhile, the Texas Outlaws won the consolation bracket for 5th, or the Plate, with a 27-0 shutout of Stade Francais and a 19-5 defeat of Rugby Alsace (both teams from France) to take that bracket. Dutch Girls Rugby took 7th over Stade Francais.

So overall the USA and Canadian teams went 11-4, with two of those losses being to another North American team, and the other two losses being to RBW, the team that finished 2nd overall.

Boys U16

The NA Lions boys defeated the Dog River Howlers in the quarterfinals on Sunday before losing 12-7 to the Czech Republic national team. Texas Rangers lost to the Czechs in their quarterfinal match and then faced Dog River, garner some measure of revenge for Saturday's defeated with a 12-10 win in the 5th-place semifinal.

That put Dog River playing for 7th, where they lost 29-17 to German team Hessen. The Luxembourg national team beat the Rangers 29-0 to take 5th. So it was left to the Lions to end the day on a winning note and they did, beating RBW 17-10 to take 3rd. The Czech Republic team beat Rugby Academy Zuid out of Netherlands 22-12 to take the Cup.

Overall the North American teams went 8-10 however three of those losses were against each other, and three other losses were to the finalists.