The Premier Rugby Sevens professional 7s competition held its first event October 9 with an intense weekend of action with the Loonies taking the women's competition and an overtime penalty kick shootout deciding the men's final.
Here's how it went down:
Men Round 1
Headliners vs Loonies
Shane Moore can always say he was the first player to score in PR7s history after the longtime Washington state speedster blazed down the sideline for the opening try of the opening game before 30 seconds had ticked off the clock to give the Loonies a 7-0 lead.
The Headliners didn’t panic and a nice break from Chris Turori saw him dish to Peter Tiberio for the answering try. Tiberio grabbed his leg and seemed to pick up an injury, but he stuck around to kick the conversion and keep playing. Tim Stanfill sidestepped his way to the go-ahead try and it was 14-7 until just before halftime, when Chris Mattina bulled through to inch the Loonies to within two at 14-12.
In the second half, Gavan D’Amore Morrison almost scored off the kickoff. The D’Amore was held up in-goal but the Headliners kept up the pressure and eventually Stanfill was over from short range.
The Headliners cruised from there.
Headliners 35
Tries: Peter Tiberio 2, Tim Stanfill 2, Luc Scheck
Convs: Peter Tiberio 5
Loonies 19
Tries: Shane Moore, Chris Mattina 2
Convs: Steve Tomasin, Carmen Consolino
Locals vs Loggerheads
The Locals players reflected their team’s train-oriented nickname: big, powerful, and tough to stop. They showed that in the opening seconds with Cole Zarcone taking on a couple of Loggerheads tacklers before Matai Leuta picked up and tossed a pass to Jojo Tikoisuva, who powered over.
But the Loggerheads had skills, too, and a jackle in the tackle by Martin Iosefo led to a penalty—Iosefo tapped quickly, took off to near midfield, and fed Kevon Williams for a 55-meter jaunt to the posts.
Both teams had more chances in the first half but made silly errors that gave the momentum to the other team. So it remained 7-5 Loggerheads into the second half.
Intense defensive pressure from the Locals pushed the Loggerheads back almost to their tryline, Key plays from Kevon Williams and Lance Williams got them out of trouble, and some probing runs from Iosefo and D’Montae Noble set up space out wide. Iosefo’s between-the-legs pass to Devin Short set the Nevadan free to race in for the try. Cian Barry hit the tough conversion and the Locals needed a head of steam to come back.
Penalties and dropped balls killed any chance for the Locals to get out of their 22, and eventually Kevon Williams took an offload from Lance Williams, sidestepped a couple of times, and put the game away.
With time expired Patrick Regan found a huge gap to charge through for the Locals (getting a huge from his former UCLA teammate Barry on the other team). But it was too little too late as the Loggerheads won it 19-12.
Loggerheads 19
Tries: Kevon Williams 2, Devin Short
Convs: Cian Barry 2
Locals 12
Tries: Jojo Tikoisuva, Patrick Regan
Convs: Tai Enosa
Women Round 1
Loggerheads vs Headliners
The Loggerheads held the ball for almost all of the opening two minutes but couldn’t break through. Finally when the Headliners secured possession the ball was sent out to Kristen Thomas who fended off one tackler and sped on for 55 meters to score under the sticks.
Determined to defend better, the Loggerheads laid in some hits to stop Katherine Johnson and Naya Tapper. But the result was, ultimately, the same, as quick hands set up Thomas to fight her way to the corner. Looking to find a way to stretch the defense the Loggerheads unleashed a wide passing game to unleash Rachel Pau’u down the sideline. She tried to tiptoe the touchline but cruelly stepped on the line, which negated her try and the teams entered halftime with the Headliners up 12-0.
But flinging the ball around with abandon worked nicely for the women in green in the second half with a speculative pass from Salote Tausinga helping to put Jaz Gray over in the opening moments of the second half. But they couldn’t find that magic again as the Headliners as mistakes led to some maddeningly slow scrums and allowed the Headliners to just close it out.
Headliners 12
Tries: Kris Thomas 2
Convs: Alena Olsen
Loggerheads 5
Tries: Jaz Gray
Experts vs Loonies
Power and deception opened up the Loonies’ account within a minute of their first game in Memphis. Halllie Taufoou started it all with a lineout steal. Nana Fa’avesi pushed off two defenders, dummied past another, crashed into a fourth, and then popped the ball back to Taufoou, who displayed a lovely show-and-go before opening up to go 50 meters to score a brilliant try.
A miscue from the Experts set up the next try as a dropped pass allowed Alev Kelter to nab it and pass off to Sarah Levy on the outside for the simplest of scores. That combination worked in a more structured way moments later as the imposing Kelter drew enough attention for her to feed Levy for a jaunt down the sideline and a 17-0 Loonies lead.
A massive run from Sui A’au took the Experts down the sideline, but Kelter was equal to the task. Now the Experts were in the Loonies’ 22 and after a penalty Kristi Kirshe tapped and steamrolled two for the try. She paid for it, though, picking up an injury in the process.
The Loonies weren’t too fazed and in the second half a simple switch move put Kelter through for her first. Her conversion went in off the upright and the Loonies were in control.
With just over a minute remaining Amanda Berta snagged the ball from a tackled player and took off for the Experts’ second try. The Experts came close as time expired, but the Loonies really had the game in hand 24-10.
Loonies 24
Tries: Haillie Taufoou, Sarah Levy 2, Alev Kelter
Convs: Alev Kelter 2
Experts 10
Tries: Kristie Kirshe
Round 2 Men
Loonies vs Team
This game could hardly have started worse for the Loonies as their opening kickoff went out on the full, giving the Team a free kick at the center of the field. Christian Rodriguez quickly attracted the attention of two defenders, leaving a tiny gap for Aren Martin to charge through. Rodriguez hit him with a perfect pass and Martin returned the favor when Devereaux Ferris swooped in to make a tackle. Under the posts for Rodriguez and Tom Isherwood converted to make it 7-0.
A penalty for not releasing in the tackle gave the Team the ball again, Rodriguez tapped quickly after another Loonies penalty, Rodriguez to James Vaifale to Aaron Cummings put Harley Wheeler in at the corner.
Three minutes went by and the Team led 12-0.
Now it was the Team’s turn to mess up their restart. The Loonies finally got some consistent possession, and while they didn’t immediately score, the run of play was in the Team’s half for the next four minutes. A loose pass was scooped up by Ferris and he fed Chris Mattina who found Aki Raymond, who simply refused to go down and fought his way over.
The Team’s calmness under pressure seemed to leave them in the second half as a few panicked passes led to a scrum at midfield and a chance for Raymond to go wide around the edge and in under the posts. Ferris converted and we had a tie ballgame.
Both teams made mistakes in trying to get that game-winning try. Finally, a series of penalties opened up a chance for the Team and they got it to Conroy Smith who was not to be denied. Isherwood’s conversion finished off a game where the Team started strong and ended strong, but lost the momentum in the middle.
Team 19
Tries: Aren Martin, Harley Wheeler, ConRoy Smith
Convs: Tom Isherwood 2
Loonies 12
Tries: Aki Raymond 2
Convs: Devereaux Ferris
Loggerheads vs Experts
If you had stopped these teams after 60 seconds and asked for something they needed to do better, both would have said “ball security” as possession changed three times before a minute was up. The third turnover produced a try. A penalty for not releasing allowed the Experts to attack from their half. Noah Bain bounced out of a tackle and Watson Filikitonga took on two tacklers before regathering a somewhat loose pass inside to score the opener.
The Loggerheads responded almost immediately, spinning the ball out to Devin Short for a long break. He was dragged down just short but a penalty later Brendon Curle tapped and sidestepped his way over.
With the score 7-7 the Loggerheads sent the restart short, meaning the Experts had a free kick at midfield, and the ball was spun to Logan Tago, who charged through the two men who tried to tackle the tank on legs and the Experts had the lead again.
Superstar Perry Baker started for the Experts but he had been used mostly as a decoy until late in the first half. Then the two-time World Rugby 7s Player of the Year cut into the middle and put away fellow 7s Eagle Naima Fuala’au. Just like that it was 17-7 but there was time for one more play in the first half where another 7s Eagle, Kevon Williams, took advantage. Spotting a little gap thanks to a misaligned defensive line, Williams exploded for a run of 80 meters to get the Loggerheads within a try.
The Experts took the momentum back thanks to a huge run from David Hightower that covered about 80 meters before he slipped the ball backward to Danny Thomas, and eventually Tago bulled his way through. Down 22-14 the Loggerheads knew they had to strike quickly, and they did, working their way down the field thanks to work from Williams and Tommy Clark before Patrick Madden picked up from Clark’s ruck and ran it in. Madden curved around close to the posts and it was a smart move as Cian Barry’s conversion was over to make it a one-point game at 22-21.
But the savvy Baker snagged a tap-back off the restart and a nifty no-look pass from Thomas allowed Corey Jones to take off from the 22, scoring under the posts untouched and putting the Experts out of reach. Baker ran out the clock and the Experts had their victory.
Experts 29
Tries: Watson Filikitonga, Logan Tago 2, Naima Fuala’au, Corey Jones
Convs: Naima Fuala’au 2
Loggerheads 21
Tries: Brendon Curle, Kevon Williams, Patrick Madden
Convs; Cian Barry 3
Round 2 Women
Loggerheads vs Loonies
This game was punctuated by turnovers back and forth over the first several minutes. Both teams unleashed some massive tackles, with bodies strewn around the field. But points were hard to come by. Loggerheads got a penalty five meters from the Loonies tryline only to turn the ball over. However, in a bit of a bizarre play, Alev Kelter tried to kick clear from her own in-goal, popped the ball in the air, and when she tried to tap it back to a Loonie teammate Jaz Gray grabbed it and dropped down for the opening try for the Loggerheads.
The mishap seemed to energize the Loonies and they ran a smart team movement down the left sideline before Kelter skated across three defenders, drew the attention of all over them, and set the platform for Alex “Spiff” Sedrick to feed Sarah Levy, who took off for a 38-meter jaunt. With Kelter’s conversion the Loonies now led 7-5.
They added to that with a solid break from scrumhalf Delaney Aikens, a powerful run from Nana Fa’avesi, and then a step-and-dive from Hallie Taufoou under the posts. That made it 14-5 at halftime.
In the second half the Loonies had two prime try-scoring plays called back for forward passes (in one Kelter ran 80 meters before finding out it was all for nothing) but third time was a charm as Jo Asumang, coming on with fresh legs, strode through for the third Loonies score. The Loggerheads finally saw some possession at the end of the game, but had to far to go in too little time.
Loonies 19
Tries: Sarah Levy, Hallie Taufoou, Jo Asumang
Convs: Alev Kelter 2
Loggerheads 5
Tries: Jaz Gray
Experts vs Headliners
Alena Olsen kicked off the scoring by forcing a holding-on penalty after making a tackle, taking the quick-tap, and selling a dummy as she ran 25 meters to score for the Headliners. The hits started to come thick and fast as both sides saw themselves cough up the ball thanks to strong defensive work.
Stuck and static in their own 22 the Headliners got out thanks to a Kristen Thomas break and an athletic catch from Katie Johnson. Emily Wessel followed up and seemed away, but she was caught, only for Naya Tapper to charge in to pick up and score. The movement had covered over 80 meters but stayed hugged to the left sideline the entire way.
That made it 10-0 and the Headliners’ lead held into the second half. That’s when the Experts finally got on the board, with Emily Samek’s unlikely offload off the deck opening up a 50-meter run from Nene Persinger. The Headliners responded with a break into the Experts 22, where they camped out until the final minute. It was scrappy rugby but eventually an offside penalty gave the Headliners the opportunity they wanted and Sammy Sullivan cruised around the edge. With seconds left on the clock the Headliners won the restart and put Tapper away for her second and the Headliners put a finishing touch on their story.
Headliners 22
Tries: Naya Tapper 2, Alena Olsen, Sammy Sullivan
Convs: Alena Olsen
Experts 5
Tries: Nene Persinger