Panther Rugby Academy on the National Sevens Youth Championships over the weekend in Cleveland, but it certainly wasn't easy.
They had their obstacles for sure. They lost starter Tony Mack a few days before the event and another, Kai Campbell, in pool play both to injury. Those two losses hurt but they also revealed how tight this group was.
"I’ve never seen a U16s side have such a next-man-up attitude as I did with this group," said Panther Coach Gary Anderson. "Much of this comes from our captain, Justin Albouy. Justin has been with us on multiple tours, winning Topical 7s in 2022 and missing out on a repeat in 2023 on a missed conversion with no time left, so he knows both sides of that final whistle."
Certainly the PRA side went through some in-game challenges through the tournament.
"Pool play really set up for us well," said Anderson, who runs the University of Kentucky program and had Dave Katz coaching also while Santiago Cuccarese and Mike Orefice managed team and tour logistics. "Our pool was tough; we were tested by four teams that play various different styles. San Diego coming off their recent 15s National Final, do everything well and pushed us to the final whistle 17-12. EIRA, a perennial powerhouse, had a solid 9-10 combination who tested us early, but our defense led the way 29-0. Celina, a strong side out of Texas, was a real handful. Those boys spend some serious time in the gym and tried to smash it up on us. We spent most of that game on defense where we learned a lot about heart pulling out the win 21-19."
