Sacramento Amazons Win USA Rugby Girls’ Under-19 Championships

from USA Rugby:

SANDY, Utah – The Sacramento Amazons put on a commanding display to defeat Fallbrook and win the 2010 USA Rugby Girls’ Under-19 Championship title as play concluded at Utah’s Rio Tinto Stadium on Sunday.

The Californian sides appeared evenly matched in the opening stages, with Fallbrook’s speed making up for the difference in size. However, it was the Sacramento team that scored first as Adrianne Rubiaco fought her way over the line. A poor penalty allowed Fallbrook to put three points on the board, but shortly after it was again the Amazon No.7 Rubiaco finding a way through to extend the lead.

However, Amazon continued to hurt themselves by giving away sloppy penalties and after a yellow card, Fallbrook capitalized and closed the gap to 12-10 at the half.

After the break, Amazon applied more pressure and Tolini Finau took advantage of a Fallbrook mistake to take the ball in for a try.  With the Warriors trying to find a way back into the game, Amazon showed tremendous resilience to continually stop the Fallbrook attack. And as the match went on, Amazons power began to wear down the Warrior defense, two tries from Sauliloa Fauolo, another from Elizabeth Green secured the victory and a first National Championship for the California outfit.

“We worked hard all season and the girls’ had to overcome some serious setbacks in the game. I’m so happy for them, it’s always been our goal to win a national championship, and I’m just delighted the girls’ have seen that hard work really pays off, because that’s what we teach” Sacramento Amazon Manager, Sefesi Green said after the victory.

In the day’s earlier matches, Portland comfortably defeated Lowland, 37-0 to capture seventh place and last year’s champions DSHA claimed third in its match against Brookfield. In the battle for fifth, Kent beat West Carrol 17-5 in what was a fairly close encounter.

The match put an end to a hugely successful weekend – fantastic rugby was on display all around and the total number of paid fans in attendance reached approximatley 5,700.

You can relive all the action from the High School and Under-19 competition on our Ustream channel, visit www.ustream.tv/usarugby

For more information on the Championships and the National Championships series, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/championships.

Day 3 Results

7th/8th – Portland 37, Lowland 0
5th/ 6th – Kent 17, West Caroll 5
3rd/ 4th – DSHA 65, Brookfield 0
Championship – Sacramento Amazons 32, Fallbrook 10

Day 2 Results – May 22, 2010

Brookfield 19, Portland 15
Sacramento Amazons 31, West Carroll 3
DSHA 10, Kent 7
Fallbrook 74, Lowland 0
West Carroll 26, Portland 5
Sacramento Amazons 40, Brookfield 0
Kent 45, Lowland 0
Fallbrook 8, DSHA 5