Atlanta Renegades 7s Tournament Results

The Atlanta Renegades hosted 32 teams in five brackets in the 11th annual Renegades 7s rugby tournament on Saturday, June 6, 2009, on three fields at the fine Georgia Soccer Park facilities in East Point, GA, with Life RFC coming away with wins in the top two men’s club brackets. The Renegades were also happy to be able to contribute $250 of the tournament proceeds to the USA Rugby South’s men’s collegiate all-stars team, who are heading out to Glendale CO for USA Rugby’s National Collegiate Men’s All-Star Championships next weekend.

Life posted two come back wins in the men’s club finals, with Life I beating Daytona 31-5 in the men’s premier bracket (which also included sides from Atlanta Renegades and Old White), and Life II winning the men’s open/ social bracket 21-5 over Slackers. In the premier final, Daytona struck first about 1 minute in with an unconverted try by Ben Catania to take a 5-0 lead, but after that it was pretty much all Life. Tries by Life’s Garry Sullivan and Kyle Grossheider at the 4 and 5 minute marks in the first half (one converted) gave Life a 12-5 halftime lead. Early in the second half, Life’s Tui Osborne set up Joe Breuer for a long break downfield, only to be caught by Daytona’s Rod Ceasar (who plays 15s for the Renegades) covering across a lot of field. Life’s Nathan Rogers scored and converted two tries at the 2 and 4 minute marks, the first in support of a break started by Benny Mateialona and the later on his own break, increasing Life’s lead to 26-5. Osborne added another unconverted try shortly afterwards after a Daytona kick in their own end was charged down, for the 31-5 final score.

Life II was in the finals of the 12 team men’s open/social bracket against Slackers, a social side made up predominately of veteran Renegades players. The first half remained scoreless until just before the half, when Slackers’ Mike Rock made a long break before dishing to Cory Miles near the line for an unconverted try, and a 5-0 Slackers lead at half time. But just as in the premier final, after that it was all Life, as Slackers seemed to tire in their 5th game on a hot Atlanta day (as well as a tough 24-5 quarterfinal win over a very large and physical BRAMAS team that averaged about 250 pounds per player, also a mostly Renegades social side). Life II scored a pair of converted tries midway through the second half and added a third just before the final whistle to round out their 21-5 win.

In the other brackets, MTSU beat Georgia Southern in the 6 team men’s collegiate division, a veteran Atlanta Women I side beat their younger second side in the 4 team women’s bracket, and Alpharetta Phoenix won easily over Starr’s Mill in the 6 team boy’s high school division. With 32 teams entered this year, the Renegades 7s has become probably the second largest 7s tournament in the southeast (after Cape Fear), and is typically held on the first Saturday in June each year; mark your calendar for June 5, 2010 and plan to attend.

The Renegades would particularly like to thank our sponsors, Stout Irish Sports Pub (which also hosted the post-tournament social) and Crystal Head Vodka, and were pleased that vendor National Rugby Supply () set up a booth at the tournament.

Premier:
Renegades
Old White
Daytona
Life I

Men’s Open/Social/College:
MTSU
GJLS
Ga. Tech I
Old White II
Birmingham
High Country I/Green
High Country II/Blue
Life II
Slackers
BRAMAS
Ga. Tech II
Ga. Southern Men
Kennesaw State
Walton HS Alumni
Magnificent 7s
Auburn Alumni
Chattanooga
Piglets

Women’s Open/College
LadyGades
Ga. Southern Women
Atlanta Women I
Atlanta Women II

Boy’s High School
Alpharetta Phoenix
Starr’s Mill
Walton
Grayson
Cherokee
Brookwood

**For a comprehensive list of Rugby 15s & 7s Tournaments, click here!!