When Navy stunned Air Force at the buzzer of the opening match of the tournament, it was a sign of things to come.
That was the first of three matches decided at the buzzer during the first day of the RugbyTown 7s. When the dust settled on the day, four teams escaped with an unblemished record.
Army came into their first two matches of pool play in rare form in pursuit of their eighth Armed Forces Championship title. Not only did they pick up two dominant wins over Navy and Coast Guard to secure a perfect 2-0 record, they didn’t concede a point, finishing the day with a 74-0 point differential. The six table points Army secured on the day weren’t enough to secure the top spot in Pool A, though, as both Navy and Air Force finished Friday with 7 table points after finishing their opening day of the tournament with 2-1 records. Air Force’s Arthur Shields finished the day as the tournament’s leading try scorer with six tries on the day.
In Pool B, NAV 7s shined in their RugbyTown 7s debut. They compiled a 3-0 record with wins over Team Germany, Casanovas, and Gorilla Rugby while only conceding 19 points on the day. The convincing 35-7 win over Team Germany to close Day 1 was the second loss that Germany suffered on their first day of competition. Casanovas put together a strong performance on Day 1 and finished second in the pool with a 2-1 record to show for it.
The USA U-23s came out on top of Pool C, using a complete 29-14 victory over their neighbors from the North – the British Columbia Bears – to close the evening with a 3-0 record. The U-23s received a big boost from 20-year-old wing nick Hardrict II who finished the day with five tries. The Tel Aviv Heat also made an impression on Day 1. Friday was not only the Heat’s RugbyTown 7s debut, but was also the club’s first foray into the game of rugby sevens as well. They compiled a respectable 2-1 record with their only loss coming against the USA U-23s.
RugbyTown 7s veterans the Ramblin’ Jesters defeated the DBlock Santa Rosa 24-7 to finish with a 2-1 record and put a bow on the opening day of the tournament, but the story of Pool D on Day 1 was the dominating performance put forth throughout the day by the Tsunami Barbarians. Tsunami Barbarians ended the day with the most points scored, the most tries scored, and perhaps the most impressive resume of any team in the tournament with victories over two clubs with RugbyTown 7s titles to their name in the Ramblin’ Jesters and Denver 7s Selects, and a very solid Lions 7s team that finished the day with a 2-1 record.
The Army and the Air Force will get Day 2 of the tournament started on Saturday at 11 AM MT. Purchase your tickets or stream all of the action for free on RugbyTown7s.com.