The Boys HS Elite 7s at the Las Vegas Invitational is, in fact, the oldest high-level HS 7s tournament in the USA.

It’s only in its fifth year, but 7s is still in its infancy in terms of being considered a legitimate activity for young players in the USA (yes, we know how that’s ridiculous, but it’s true). Still the LVI Boys HS Elite 7s is a wonderful tournament because it gives anyone an opportunity to expose young talent to 7s. 

This year, there are two pools that are seeded as you’d expect, that is, with two very strong teams and two that might be a surprise, but aren’t favored as much. Then there’s Pool A.

 

Pool A

Ontario I, Atlantis, HS All Americans II, and Washington Loggers. This is a fabulous pool, because any team in the group could win it, or finish last.

Ontario carries some cache in being a Canadian provincial team, and last year the Blues performed very well, finishing 3rd overall and losing only to British Columbia and the HS All Americans. They are a mature program and if they are playing together, they will be strong.

The HS All Americans 2nd team gets better every year. This year, according to Head Coach Salty Thompson, the wall between HSAA I and HSAA II will be a porous one. He really has one very large squad (made a little bit larger at the request of the British Columbia program), and will find playing time throughout the tournament. So you might see some of the old HSAA players in Pool A. This could be reason enough to choose the HSAA team over Ontario.

Atlantis has some impressive talent, almost all of it from Pennsylvania, and they’ve been working together, but it's going to be tough for them.

And the Washington Loggers is also a team that meets together relatively frequently. They have some skilled players and some guys with speed. The Loggers also like to field a big power forward - they had Titi Lamositele on their team one year - and this year it’s Derise Fuga. He won’t beat anyone around the corner, but he’ll need two or three to bring him down.

Our Picks:

1. Ontario I

2. HSAA II

3. Washington Loggers

4. Atlantis

 

Pool B

British Columbia is the class of this operation. Coach Shane Thompson has done excellent work, often without a lot of support, in building 7s in BC. These guys are very good and they've been playing all over the world this past year.

The Utah Lions have been building for the last year, winning tournaments and playing in a regular 7s program. They should combine athleticism with teamwork, and could shock BC. Palos Verdes is a high school team that is asking a lot of their boys. They could certainly do well in the consolation bracket. Timing is tough for Toronto - it’s cold out there. It’s unlikely they can match the unity or athleticism of Utah or BC.

Our Pick:

1. BC

2. Utah Lions

3. Toronto

4. Palos Verdes

 

Pool C

We’ve already discussed the HS All Americans, the team that has won the last two LVI tournaments. This pool does not look like it will be too tough for them. The Upright Rugby Rogues lost all four of their pool matches in 2014, and the Canadian touring program (similar to Atlantis) will struggle. Ontario II could well be the second-best team in this group, with the Raptor Academy being young and, like a lot of the teams, a squad that doesn’t play together much.

Our Pick:

1. HSAA I

2. Ontario II

3. Raptor Academy

4. Upright Rugby Rogues

 

Did the tournament get the pools right? It does seem that Pool A has more higher-level teams compared to other pools. If you look at the pools based on how the teams did last year, you get this:

Pool A: 5th, 6th, 3rd, 8th

Pool B: 2nd, 10th, NA, NA (one of the NA teams is Utah, which we rate highly and which won the Open 7s in 2014)

Pool C: 1st, 9th, NA, NA

It does seem as if Pool A is heavily loaded with competitive teams.  Moving the Raptor Academy or Upright from Pool C to Pool A for one of the other teams, like the Loggers, would make the pools a little more balanced.

As for who wins it all? It's hard to vote against the HSAA and BC teams meeting yet again for the championship. But Utah or Ontario could shake things up.