Kutztown University rode a strong defense and a lot of team speed to sweep the field at the ACRL 7s tournament at Virginia Tech.

KU defeated the hosts in the final of this tournament which is a qualifier for the ACRL finals.

“We really relied on our defense,” said Kutztown Head Coach Gregg Jones. “We changed our defense quite a bit this year and it’s gone very well. In the games where we scored 40 or more points, most of the tries came from turnovers.”

The Bears shut out Wake Forest 28-0 and defeated Northeastern 28-5, before shutting out James Madison 42-0 to win their pool. Virginia Tech, for their part, won their first two pool matches 22-14 over NC State and 34-5 over Ohio State before slipping 20-0 to Virginia. But they’d done enough to win their pool - they tied Ohio State with a 2-1 record, but topped the Buckeyes in points difference - and faced Kutztown in the final game of the day. 

In that game, it was all Kutztown, as the Bears rambled on 42-7.

Kutztown were sparked by the play of speedy hooker Robert Stortz, with Nu’u Aiava a slippery customer in the backs, and Brad Fredericks, a flyhalf in 15s and a prop in 7s, tough up front. Wes Hartmann also played well, and KU has started rotating their scrumhalves. Niku Kruger is a team leader and a USA prospect, but because he is a USA prospect, Kutztown might have to be without him in April, so Jonathan Sage has been seeing time at the base of the ruck and done well.

In addition, the Bears benefitted from a visit by former USA 7s team captain and coach, Matt Hawkins, who spent a couple of days with the team.

“We all learned a lot from him,” said Jones.

On attack, Kutztown has been focusing on increasing the pace and depth of their attack, and it has worked. Jones said Kutztown is focussing solely on 7s this spring, and the result is a more focused approach for everyone.

“We did away with our development 15s team this year,” said Jones. “We’re running three 7s teams, and each team goes somewhere and plays in a tournament each week. We reason that the forwards who are playing on the 2nd and 3rd 7s teams are going to become better players in 15s as a result. They will appreciate the need for fitness, will work on their open-field defense and they ball-handling and decision-making. It’s working out well.”

Kutztown has qualified for the ACRL final April 18-19 in Charlotte, NC but will not go. They are likely going to concentrate instead on preparing for the CRC at the end of May.