Tempe Pumped for Nationals Run

Photo courtesy @tempewomensrugby Instagram

The Tempe Ninjas returned to the pitch in the spring, playing other Arizona clubs as well as teams like Atomic Sisters (N.M.) and Las Vegas. The club was already planning its summer 7s season when the USA Club 7s National Championship confirmed its return, and that prospect only intensified the internal drive to not just play but compete.

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Rick Ribero joined the Tempe men as a player in 2015 and transitioned to coaching this season. The intention was that he’d apprentice with Salty Thompson, who was going to coach both the men’s and women’s teams, and align with the women when the squads separated. But Thompson’s commitments and travel schedule were more aggressive than anticipated, and he hasn’t been able to coach Tempe this summer, making Ribero the default coach.

“It’s gone incredibly,” Ribero said about his summer 7s role. “I take a perspective that I’m here to help, but the way rugby is, it’s the people on the field who will win a game or make a good or bad practice. I offer organization but the women on the field are making the biggest impact. I defer to them and they’ve stepped up more than I have in coaching, managing themselves and having the drive to compete in Seattle.”

Ribero effused with appreciation for the team’s volunteerism, noting that everyone contributes according to their gifts – whether that’s serving as captain, managing finances, coordinating logistics and more. That level of commitment kept Tempe engaged as rugby returned at different paces in the region.

“The way it works on the West Coast, there are a lot of tournaments and primary teams for competition out of SoCal, and they hadn’t picked up a rugby yet,” Ribero said of California’s timeline. “We put some back-up plans together, and then right when the season was kicking off, we realized we were in business, because SoCal began opening up and that unlocks 7s.”

California fully reopened on June 15, and it was one factor in why teams like Berkeley are opting out of nationals. Tempe’s first tournament of the summer season occurred in Las Vegas.

“It was very interesting, since there were teams that have been practicing for a month like us and others that were on the field for the first time in a year,” Ribero noted a discrepancy in game readiness as well as a movement in players between teams. “We saw some good competition, and coming out of Las Vegas, it was, ‘O.K., we’re good. We’ll have a chance to compete [at nationals], but how high can we compete?’ We didn’t get that answer until last weekend.”

Tempe has good numbers this summer – an asset that also makes selections for tournament rosters difficult. Nina Freelander was an important voice during the spring, and then Chloe Jex, formerly of the D.C. Furies, and stalwart Lindsey Mahoney have been integral leaders on and around the pitch. Jex served as captain for last weekend’s Sunsplash 7s in Santa Monica, Calif., where two local sides and Life West awaited.

“Our question going in was: We know we can compete in Seattle, but what does that mean? Are we going to compete in that we can hold our own, or do some damage and get people’s attention? Or compete at the highest level and win the whole thing,” Ribero said. “We thought we’d be somewhere in the middle but the answer was more: We can win the whole thing.”

Tempe beat the two Santa Monica sides, an achievement that Ribero said reflected the strength of the Ninjas, not a deficiency in the opposition.

“Santa Monica looked good,” Ribero noted. “They were better than anyone we saw in Las Vegas and, with all due respect, any of the Arizona teams. So they were a step up.”

Heading into the final pool game against Life West, Tempe already knew that it would be playing the Gladiatrix in the final, since the NorCal side had also defeated Santa Monica twice.

“We won the last pool game, convincingly. I don’t know if they had all their best players in, but whatever, we’ll take it,” Ribero said. “Unfortunately, it’s really hard to beat a team back-to-back in 7s, especially a team as talented as Life West. So an hour-and-a-half later, we had to beat them at a level where we had their attention, and they were ready to go.”

In the championship match, Ribero noted an uptick in performance from Life West, and while Tempe didn’t put its best game out there, the Ninjas led 21-12 with a minute remaining on the clock.

“We thought we had it, but they scored twice in the final minute, including one with no time on the clock,” Ribero said of the 24-21 loss. “We were one play away from going undefeated and beating Life West twice. But at the end of the day, we walked away losing because one play makes that much of a difference in 7s. We’re close, but we have work to do so we come out of a game like this with a win.”

Tempe got a lot of quality intel out of Sunsplash 7s, but Ribero, and likely the players, was still raw about the result.

“We walked away with a mix of both [positives and negatives] in that we wanted to know whether we could compete, and having won a high-level game in pool play and falling just short in the final, we answered that question. And that was our goal,” Ribero said. “But any time you step on the field, you want to win, and to lose in that heartbreaking fashion is tough. The shock of them scoring and the ref’s hand in the air and the final whistle and having to leave the field – it was sudden and it hit hard. There will be a positive, more confident response knowing we can compete, now we just have to finish.”

Ribero knows that the team is motivated in building toward that final step. Tempe will have more opportunities to play before nationals but those exact fixtures are to be finalized. Ribero will need those minutes to zero in on the travel roster to Seattle.

“This past weekend we didn’t have everyone available and it was very challenging picking a 12-person roster and even more challenging choosing the starting seven,” he said. “Some people played maybe three minutes in four games and if they had to start in Seattle I’d be perfectly fine with that. We have high-level talent and depth, so I’m far from naming a travel roster.”

There’s a lot of good energy around the trip and optimism that Tempe can do well in the women’s competition.

“Our women’s team has gone through a lot of transition recently with coaching, players, where they’re practicing and when. That’s a bigger deal than it sounds,” Ribero said of the impact of a good showing at nationals. “On the flip side, the men’s team won a national championship 3-4 years ago and has had a lot of success. We’re pushing for a stronger club of Tempe Rugby and that’s women, men, youth – you name it – across the board. Making this run is going to solidify that our women are a very clear, dominant part of this club and in the state of Arizona. This is for a lot more than the 12 women on the roster but for the entire team. It’s going to impact the entire club and state of Arizona. Arizona gets lost in the shuffle sometimes. We’re not really in with SoCal but we’re not Southwest with Texas. So sometimes we’re forgotten. But making a deep run says we don’t need to play anywhere in particular. We’re important.”