Following qualification for the USA Rugby National Sevens Championship for the first time in six years, the Santa Monica Rugby Club (SMRC) traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, over the weekend to play the best in the country. Despite not progressing beyond their group stage, the team finished two places above their seeded position and given the semi-pro standard of some of the squads they faced, that should still be considered a victory.
"The men's bracket was tough, the overall level at the tournament was very high, I felt," Steven Johnson, President of SMRC said.
Santa Monica’s very first game was against number one seeded National Athletic Village (NAV) from North Carolina and two-time defending national champions that actually ended up winning the weekend for a third consecutive Championship.
As Johnson explains, unlike most teams in the tournament, NAV is not a "club team." They are a summer academy based out of North Carolina where they bring in select players from all over the country every summer. "There are only three Charlotte guys on the whole team and they only play sevens, not the more traditional 15-aside game," Johnson said.
Santa Monica started off well, scoring first and putting NAV on the defensive. However, then SMRC got a yellow card (a two-minute suspension for that player) for a penalty that often raises eyebrows, even in 15s, when a player attempts an interception, but has little chance of catching the ball and it’s determined to be a "slap down." NAV ran in two scores while SMRC were short-handed to make the score look worse than it might have been otherwise, 10-29.
The second group game against Austin was within Santa Monica’s grasp, but discipline let SMRC down and with penalty kicks, the Texas-based team edged ahead 17-19.
The third and final pool game was against Detroit. Interestingly, Detroit beat Austin, and NAV had beaten Detroit by the same margin as Santa Monica, so SMRC were still in contention to advance to the quarterfinals, if SMRC could win by 7.
Unfortunately, the game did not go well and the final score was 10-35, which eliminated Santa Monica from any chance of advancing to the next round. A couple of missed-tackles that led to tries resulted in the boys from SMRC feeling discouraged and they spent the rest of the game trying to catch up. Detroit ended up finishing fifth overall in the tournament.
As a result of losing their pool, Santa Monica had to play one more game against Washington Athletic Club (WAC) from Seattle. Frankly, this was another game that Santa Monica should’ve dominated, but a poor performance at the breakdown allowed WAC to edge ahead. However, by half-time SMRC had clawed their way back to within two points. Visibly energized, SMRC pulled ahead and took the lead, before giving away a try in the very last minute, giving the game to WAC 17-21.
Sunday was about playing the bottom four teams to determine the outcome of what’s called the Shield Division. First up was a familiar west coast foe, the Olympic Club from the Bay Area. They too had endured a rough Saturday, so it was a very even match up. However, the boys from Santa Monica put together a solid performance, winning 26-12, despite losing a couple of players to injury.
The Shield final was played against Life College from Atlanta. "For those who don't know American rugby, Life Chiropractic College in Marietta Georgia has been a powerhouse for decades," Johnson said, adding "They’re one of the few places that give full scholarships for rugby … so it was surprising to have Life be the team we were playing for 13th place."
The game started well for Santa Monica, but they couldn’t successfully adapt to the style of game Life was forcing them to play. With a chance to tie it at the end, Santa Monica fell short and lost 7-14 to finish 14th in the tournament.
"Overall, I'd say we had the youngest team at the tournament, with only three guys having been to a nationals 7s tournament before and as a 16th seed – out of 16 – to finish above our initial placing, with some solid performances against name-brand teams, it was still an extremely positive outing and something to build on for next year," Johnson said.
Saturday
Game #1 – SMRC 10–29 NAV
Game #2 – SMRC 17–19 Austin
Game #3 – SMRC 10–35 Detroit
Game #4 Bowl/Shield Quarter – SMRC 17–21 Washington Athletic Club
Sunday
Game #5 – SMRC 26–12 Olympic Club
Game #6 – SMRC 7–14 Life
scott.snowden@smdp
