The Utah Cannibals U18 Open squad, composed mostly of U17 and U16 players won the Victoria International 7s Boys Open bracket Saturday, defeating British Columbia 27-12 in the final.

The Cannibals were led by Taysan Hammer (Herriman HS), Jarred Messina (Herriman HS), and Gabriel Mauinga (Herriman HS) in the final. The Utah Cannibals entered two boys U18 sides, one in the Elite and one in the U18 Open, as well as a U16 Boys team and a U18 Girls team. The Tournament was attended by teams from Canada, New Zealand, England, California, Colorado, and Utah. The BC 7s lived up to its billing as the top 7s Tournament in North America and British Columbia Rugby used the opportunity of the timing as a tune up for its backs and loose forwards in preparation for their U16, U17, and U18 15s matches this coming weekend. 

“This was by far a step up in competition at all age grades this year here at the British Columbia 7s,” said Cannibals U18s Head Coach Rob Randell. “The level of competition here requires that you must be on your ‘A’ game to run the tables.” 

The Utah Cannibals U18 Elite were the 2016 CRC HS Cup Finalists and the 2016 Denver 7s Champions. 

Utah’s U18 Elites defeated Rocky Mountain (Colorado) and Durham (England), then lost to BC7s Gold (Canada). The Elites then went into the Cup rounds facing BC7s Blue (Canada) and with a lead at the half, it looked as if Utah would control the match. That would not be the case, poor discipline would lead to a red card and a yellow card for Utah and a 12-5 loss knocking them out of the chase.

“This has been an amazing experience playing here. The lessons I have learned in terms of execution and sticking with the playing patterns proved that when you don’t, you will pay,” said U18 Captain, Kelsin Pupunu, (Wasatch Murray and soon to be University of Utah).

“We have improved a lot from last year and I would not want to play with anyone else. The competition we played here is the best I have played against so far,” added Robert ‘Betto’ Lui (Herriman HS) on the U18 Elite squad.

The boys U16s turned in a solid performance against a very talented field placing 4th against the Canadian, English, New Zealand, and US sides. McClatchy HS (NorCal) fielded an exceptionally talented U16s side that fell in the Cup Final to New Zealand’s Rangatahi.

The highlight for the Cannibals was the explosive improvement this past year of the U18 girls’ team which really is a U17 side. Two stand outs from an impressive group of girls were Addie Horsley (U16, United RFC) and Payten Frazier (U17, United RFC). The Lady Cannibals played the Canadian Maple Leafs (National REP Side) to a 24-12 loss, defeated the BC7s (Canada), and missed the Cup Final narrowly 7-5 to the Lions (Utah) who fell to the Maple Leafs 27-0 in the Cup Final. 

Meanwhile, in the Elite bracket, British Columbia Gold went on to win the bracket 24-19 over Durham. The Utah Lions took 3rd over BC Blue 19-14. The Celtic Barbarians defeated California-based CK McClatchy 19-7 to take the Plate, while the Cannibals beat the Utah Lions 2nds team 14-10 for 7th. Rocky Mountain defeated Bedford 14-7 for 9th.

In the Open bracket, as reported above, the Cannibals won over BC. White Rock won 3rd over the Celtic Barbarians. Durham won the Boys U16 bracket over CK McClatchy.  

The Cannibals will return to Utah and disband for Club competition this Fall and reassemble in February for the March 2017 Las Vegas Invitational and the 2017 Rosslyn Park 7s in London, England.