Bursting onto the national rugby scene this season has been Vienna.

Their HS Boys program finished 2nd in Virginia and was invited to the National Championships; their HS Girls won Virginia; and going one better, their Boys U15 team took the Tier II National Championship at the inaugural National Youth Sevens Rugby Championships this past weekend in Cleveland.

Showcasing some smart teamwork and the ability to break tackles, Vienna started well and kept getting better. They opened the tournament defeating Cleveland Rugby Academy 21-10, and then beat Charlotte 24-14. Both games were competitive. Both games Vienna had to work hard to win. It was the same story in the semifinal, as Vienna held off the upstart Pumas from Arizona.

But in the final, it all came together. Playing a Cleveland Rugby Academy team that had done itself proud beating the likes of Rhino and Belmont Shore,and the Rangers in a tight, tense semifinal. 

It was an impressive run for CRA, but Vienna's ability to punish little mistakes, led by the powerful running of Ethan Cash, and their teamwork, marshaled by Bo Sulc and captain Oliver Greer, was on point. The tries rolled in and the game ended on a lineout win, a snipe around the weak side, and a chase into the corner by Sulc, followed by the touchline conversion by Ethan Heim—the story of the game, really, 36-0. 

It was, said the players, partly a function of how many of them have been playing together since they were in the 1st or 2nd grade. It was, they also said, due to their coaching. But sometimes, also, a little talent and a little magic has something to do with it, too.