Vegas 7s – Heaven on Earth!

Whew, its finally time to recap our weekend in Vegas! The YSC team was delighted to attend our 3rd annual USA 7s event…we are a bit of a late comer in this yearly event but we plan on making it a tradition for a long time! This year we partnered with USA Rugby again to bring the Women’s Invitational Tournament to you live via Ustream. It appears from all of the feedback, comments etc that it was a resounding success. This year we knew we had to bring a quality product forward and the problems with bandwitdth, quality and more had to become mute. For that we brought in the technical expertise of Nichole Lopes (Penn State Alum) and she did a brillant job of saving our butts more than once!

This year I was also fortunate to be able to bring The Girl, Karla Benner and my brother Jeff (MJ42.com) to help as videographers and social media wizards. The Girl was solely responsible for monitoring the UStream chat room, Facebook, Twitter and email. We realized early in the game at the 2009 Atlantic Cup that if we didn’t have a prescence in the Ustream chatroom things could get out of hand very quickly. We have found that having someone there to answer your questions and monitor the feed including audio and video that we have an immense amount of success. Jeff and Karla stayed on their feet for hours at a time staring into a small screen to bring video to you and the coaches. Alex Williams has escalated the women’s game with this tournament as we were able to provide HD video to the coaches a mere moments after the matches ended. This is unprecedented as usually coaches have to wait for DVDs or uploads and that can take hours. We had a cracker jack team in Vegas and I thank USA Rugby and Alex Williams for making it possible for us to bring together such a great team.

Now on to the women’s games! The rugby this year was so great!!!!!!! 8 teams attended with 2 teams that were brought in semi-last minute to fill out the bracket.

There were a TON of games this weekend and I don’t have the time to highlight them all…but I wanted to hit on a few key matches.

Canada vs Netherlands – Pool Play, Day 1
Throughout the weekend we learned a lot about the Netherlands 7s team. Originally I wasn’t able to find any details on them to talk about but their loyal fans sent me emails, facebook and tweets about them to get me up to speed. The Dutch have been playing 7s competitively since 2006 and have done very well for themselves. If you want to find out more about the Dutch, check out their Facebook page here.

Canada is very well known in the 7s world and has worked their way up the ranks in the past few years. At the Women’s Seven World Cup in 2009 Canada faired well in their pool with 2 wins and a loss but were defeated by New Zealand in the Quarterfinals. The team in Vegas was a mixture of experienced 7s/15s players with a few new players in the mix.

This match was incredibly close as both teams showed great passing skill and powerful running. The defense of each team was disciplined and as a result the ball was often poached so neither team was able to really get moving until right before the half. With a barging call against Netherlands, #4 for Canada showed some great evasive running and heart to dive over the try line for the first try of the game. Shortly after that Canada was penalized for the same call and Netherlands chose a different tactic to score. They spun it wide using hands, speed and evasive running with #7 for Netherlands touching it down. About halfway through the half Netherlands were in the try zone but an intercepted pass by Canada foiled any chance to score. Shortly after that though there was a great slicing run by the Dutch to setup a ruck on the far right side of the field. #7 again for Netherlands showed great awareness to dummy around to the weak side of the ruck to put in another score. Late in the game Canada showed some real heart and perseverance as they mantained ball possession for about 2 minutes and with the overload were able to score to bring the win home. Canada 12 Netherlands 10

 

Spain vs Maple Leafs – Pool Play, Day 1
Spain has been moving their way up the ranks in 7s for a few years. Their best performance to date is their 3 wins in pool play at the 2009 7s Rugby World Cup. Unfortunately they fell in the Quarters to South Africa and then fell to England in the Plate Semis. The Maples Leafs were a Canadian developmental team made up of new players from their developmental pool. Canada also had 2 other teams participating in the Club Tournament.

This match was dominated by Spain as they had great support in open play and quick hands to move the ball quickly. The Maple Leafs struggled in the first half as they were plagued with penalties around the ruck. Spain was able to also capitalize on the Maple Leafs unorganized defense and made great gains in their runs. About 3 minutes in #8 for Spain snuck it weakside and scored in the corner. Only a few moments later on another Maple Leafs penalty Spain struck again with another try in the corner. At the next kick off the Maple Leafs did show a renewed spirit but the Spain defense was relentless and another penalty killed the Leafs attack and led to another try for Spain. In the 2nd half the Leafs did show more composure and organization but were not able to muster a comeback. Spain 20 Maple Leafs 5

 

USA vs Canada – Pool Play, Day 1
Matches between USA and Canada always have kind of a special feel in them as we are essentially cross country rivals. This match was no different as Canada had just defeated the Netherlands and would basically put themselves in the final if they defeated the USA. The USA team was similar to Canada as it had several 15s players but a few 7s players from years past in developmental camps. Early in the match Vix took it to the house with a great show of speed…she made it look easy but I know she was in 5th gear! After that score the USA struggled to get clean ball as Canada was hitting the rucks hard. The next 2 minutes was a hard hitting brawl with the ball changing posession every few seconds. Canada was impenetrable on defense and held the US attacks off. Canada showed a bit of their own speed later as a flying USA player (Vix) brought a player down by her ponytail, so penalty to Canada…they almost scored but an ill advised pass was the end of that attack.  Much of the same in the second half as both teams were incredibly powerful and swift but each time defense saved the day. USA 7 Canada 5

 

Netherlands vs Canada – Cup Final, Day 2
If I had to predict the final from this tournament I would have said Netherlands vs France. BUT Canada played phenomenally well against them on Day 1 and my prediction would have been wrong!  This year the final was played again in the stadium alongside the men’s matches. The Semis were also played in the stadium but were at the end of Day 1 and not many people stuck around. The final was early in the morning and was played before the Quarterfinals, viewers are estimated at 35,000!

The match was very tightly contested and the large crowd made it even more exciting. From the start the Dutch seemed a bit nervous as they were mishandling the ball a bit. An early penalty to Canada was the first chance Canada really got to move the ball. They stretched the field wide but then the Dutch were able to steal on defense. Good support by the Dutch brought them within the 22m only to go into touch where Canada took a quick lineout. The Dutch threatened to score but smart defense by Canada and the ball was moved into touch. Late in the half Canada had a huge break and may have been able to take it around the corner but opted for the switch. Canada continued to move the ball up the field with great support and were finally able to capitalize with a perfectly executed 3 v 1  to score under the posts. Netherlands scored late in the half and at the resulting kickoff with the hooter sounding there was a Canadian penalty. The half cannot end on a penalty and the Netherlands kept the ball in. Canada was able to steal the ball and scored as a result!

The second half showcased Canada on the offense and the Dutch disrupting their attack. Once the Dutch got the ball it wasn’t long until they scored though…they showed great creativity and ball movement to slice through the Canadian defense. It looked like it may have been a knock-on, but the ref (Dana Teagarden) confirmed with her AR that it was downward pressure first. Shortly after the kick off Canada had a 3 v 1 but a pass just beyond the receiver was knocked on. You could hear the crowd chanting “Go Canada Go!” as they took their lineout and got it wide to the wing. The Dutch tried to make a final stand but the time ran out and Canada was victorious! Netherlands 12 Canada 17

 

While the Women’s matches were great, the men’s matches were amazing as well. I can only hope one day that the women will be allowed to play in the stadium ALONGSIDE the men and not outside on an alternate field. It would also be really great if the women were a bit more recognized and acknowledged by the USA Sevens tournament directors. Some spectators didn’t even know the women had a tournament…and that makes me a sad person. Thats all until next year! You can view all the scores, videos, rosters and more here.