7s Club Championships – Day 2: Upsets, and Domination

Thanks to Kevin of Rucking Insurance for this writeup:

The Berkeley All Blues defeated the Boston Belles 36 to 0 in Final of the USA Rugby Women’s 7s Championships.

The 1/4 finals set from Saturday, everyone expected certain results but as in all things in rugby, that didn’t happen!

The Boston Belles, coached last year by Brandon Sparks, took it to a previously dominant San Diego Surfers side.  Working from sideline to sideline, they simply kept ball, and found holes.  A near perfect 7s match played.  Upset number 1.

Berkeley defeated Glendale, and the DC Furies went past a never-say-die Philadelphia, and NOVA did 3 to 1 tries over Atlanta.

Meanwhile, Seattle, coached by the Great Serevi, found Belmont wanting, and secured the Bowl Championship.

For the semis, Berkeley completely shut down the DC Furies.  The opening score was a Griffin to Gardner scissor before only seen in textbooks.  5 tries to 1, and Berkeley secured a spot in the final.

The second Semi, Boston defeated another favorite, this time taking 7s stalwarts NOVA to school 3 tries to 1.  NOVA never seemed to get rolling, and Boston punished every mistake.  Playing the last few minutes down a player, Boston tackled like banshees until the final whistle.  Onto…

The Congressional Final!  Tea Party Boston vs the Liberal Berkeley!!!  Interestingly, Mr. Sparks is coaching the Berkeley AB 7s program, along with Laura “Ancient Wisdom” Cabrerra.  Both teams displayed a sideline to sideline style, and crushing turnover defense all weekend.  All expectations went away, and remember, these teams TIED the day before…

Opening kickoff had Boston knocking on, and Berkeley never looking back.  The indistinguishable Griffin/Gardner Sisters took every possession deep into Boston territory.  One key play was Elaine Gardner pulling up just before being tackled into touch, just 5m from the try line.  Liz Terry cleared the ruck like a nuclear powered snow plow, two quick passes, and Natalie Marchino set up Phoebe Boon for the yahtzee.  It was that level of player coordination, the coach’s cliche of all being on the same page, that put Berkeley up 36 to 0 at the whistle.  Liz Terry did a massive amount of fetching, tackling, rucking, and generally, 3 women’s worth of heavy lifting.  She spoiled lifted lineouts by merely jumping.  This provided clean and happy ball to Kelly Griffin, Elaine Gardner, and Irene Gardner to score tries to the point where the announcer couldn’t tell the difference between the three players.

Boston simply couldn’t find possession long enough to mount a serious attack.  They stopped three long breaks 5m out, only to be scored upon by the Berkeley support.  At the end Captain Emilie Bydwell, was leading hard from the front, but it just wasn’t Boston’s afternoon. Congratulations to the Berkeley All Blues on winning the first ever 7s Club Championships.

All in all, a fantastic end to a solid Tourney.  Thank you SF Golden Gate for a solid facility, we hope to see you all come back soon.

To see all the scores from the tournament, go here.