GRR: HS Girls
Two top US girls HS teams and one of the stronger British Columbia teams headline the Fullerton Youth Tournament in Southern California.
Fallbrook and Danville may well be two of the best teams in the country. They join Innisdale of Ontario in one pool, while Maple Ridge - an excellent program from BC, faces Fullerton and Empire in the other.
Here's the full schedule:
In the culmination of the girls bracket the Hawaii Ruggah-Fest, Kahuku upset the Hilo Reign in an epic clash 7-5.
Kahuku has been on a confidence binge since going 2-1 in Las Vegas, including a victory over Fallbrook (which, admittedly, was missing several players who were also playing 7s).
Last weekend, 11 U19 girls' teams attended Nashville's Nash Bash, and while not all of the teams won (of course), many came away with something useful.
Some teams ended the two-day tournament with a renewed confidence for the upcoming season; others left Nashville knowing that in order to succeed in their regular season, they would need to improve.
British Columbia Elite 7s defeated the ATAVUS Selects 19-7 Saturday in Sam Boyd Stadium to win the Girls Elite bracket at the Las Vegas Invitational.
It was an impressive run for the ATAVUS squad, which beat Utah, tied Auckland Marist, and beat Rhino Rugby Academy to make the semis. There they beat the Minnesota Tundra 25-7 to book a spot in the stadium.
The Girls Open 7s at the LVI produced some lovely pieces of drama, and also showed that the unity of playing as a single school can sometimes trump the elite play of a select side.