Last weekend saw three Competitive Regions (CRs) and one Geographic Union (GU) held club 7s qualifiers for the women. The CRs have different set-ups in terms of how they name their representatives to the national championship, ranging from series and standings points, to others relying on two tournaments to name the nationals-bound teams.
FRONTIER
Four teams assembled for the first qualifier in the Frontier region, which includes teams from the Rocky Mountain and Mid-America GUs. The tournament occurred in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Challenge, a USA Rugby Regional Cup Tournament in Denver. The local side, Rocky Mountain Magic (Colo.), brought two teams, the second side dubbed “Black Magic,” and Utah’s Peaks Rugby and Missouri’s KC Jazz completed the lineup.
Rocky Mountain Magic, comprised of players from teams like Glendale and Denver Black Ice, took top honors and outscored opponents 139-10.
ROUND ROBIN RESULTS
Rocky Mtn Magic 42-0 Black Magic
Rocky Mtn Magic 21-5 KC Jazz
Rocky Mtn Magic 50-0 Peaks
KC Jazz 21-12 Peaks
KC Jazz 19-12 Black Magic
Black Magic 33-10 Peaks
FINALS
1st: Rocky Mtn Magic 26-5 KC Jazz
3rd: Black Magic def Peaks
MIDWEST
The Midwest holds three series tournaments and uses those standings to seed the CR championship, which names the reps to nationals. The first qualifier occurred at the Forest City 7s and drew eight teams. Chicago North Shore, under the direction of new head coach John Coumbe-Lilley, finished first while the Chicago Lions and Cincinnati finished second and third, respectively.
The next series tournament occurs June 22 at the Firehouse 7s in Lemont, Ill.
NORCAL
Northern California is a GU so its qualifiers will send teams to the Pacific North CR championship on July 27 in San Francisco. There, the NorCal teams will play Pacific North leaders (like Washington Athletic and ORSU) for berths to the national championship.
NorCal held its first qualifier in San Jose and saw sides do battle. Nationals regulars Life West and Berkeley each put in two sides, and were joined by SFGG and San Jose.
Life West 58-0 SFGG
Life West 44-0 All Blues B
Life West def Life West B
All Blues 21-7 Life West B
All Blues 38-5 SFGG
All Blues def All Blues B
Life West B 33-12 Santa Rosa
Life West B 5-0 San Jose
All Blues B 38-5 Santa Rosa
All Blues B 42-0 San Jose
SFGG 24-12 San Jose
SFGG 24-5 Santa Rosa
San Jose 22-14 Santa Rosa
Final: Life West 24-5 All Blues
Photo: Alex Ho (hoiho.net)
SOUTH
The South is holding two tournaments to determine its reps to nationals and Atlanta has the early lead for a berth. At the Rusty Knight 7s in Orlando, the Harlequins beat Phoenix 38-7, Orlando 33-5 and Tampa Krewe 33-0, before facing Phoenix again for the final. The Ros Chou-coached team ended with a 28-0 win and title.
The next South qualifier will occur July 20 in Raleigh, so there is a lot of 7s rugby to play until then.