After a two-year hiatus from national and international competition, the Utah Youth Rugby official select side, the Utah Cannibals have been back in competition this summer, and it's been a good summer.

The Cannibals won the U16 bracket of the Victoria 7s, and also won the Rocky Mountain Challenge 15s all-star tournament, going 8-0 in Varsity and JV combined. The 7s team then went on to win the Denver 7s.

The 7s Program sent three sides to the Victoria 7s in British Columbia in July, and in addition to winning the U16 bracket, they finished 5th in the Boys U18 Elite and 3rd in the Boys U18 Open.

“The kids were fantastic and quick to grasp the defensive shape and attack patterns we were implementing” said coach Nu’u Punimata “It was a lot to absorb in minimal time. We were quite pleased with our boys’ performance and we walked away with some wins, some losses and good lessons learned” said Rob Randell “We could see dramatic improvement each match and that really is the measuring stick.”

“We knew that at the younger age grade we would not have the same gap of 7s experience as with the senior ages," added 7s program director Mark Drown. "And we felt the boys could make a definitive mark."

That certainly was the case with an opening match against the Tsunami the Cannibals walked away with a 24-12 win against a very solid Canadian side. From that point on the U16s only got better and better defeating all teams in pool play, winning the semi-final against White Rock and facing Victoria Thunder in the University of Victoria Rugby Stadium for the Cup. Against a determined Thunder side the Cannibals struck first in the corner 5-0, only to have the Thunder answer right back dotting down under the posts 5 – 7. After a few more phases it became apparent that the Cannibals had found their rhythm and started to put points on the board. The final whistle blew and after 20 minutes of great 7s rugby, Utah walked of the pitch as the 2015 U16 Victoria Cup Champions by a score of 27-12.

And no on to the Serevi RugbyTown 7s in Glendale, Colo., where the Cannibals are part of seven U18 boys teams in the U18 competition. With Drown running the US Army team in the men's bracket of the same tournament, it's up to Rob Randell to lead the 7s team.

The Utah Cannibals (U17s) will be competing in the U19 Serevi Invitational in Glendale, CO this August and will be announcing their 2016 National and International Tour Calendar shortly. For more information about Utah Youth Rugby visit UYR.com or RugbyUtah.com