Here's a quick roundup of what happened in the Boys and Men's U23 brackets at the Tropical 7s.
Men U23
Wheeling University stormed through with a 6-0 record in pool play, beating Upright Rugby 28-5 in the process. That setup a final between Wheeling and Upright, which Wheeling took in emphatic fashion 43-5.
It was a very tough tournament for everyone—six games over a weekend is a grind; seven is even tougher.
Boys U18
The Oakville Crusaders of Ontario held off Jamaica, Next Phase Rugby, and, in the final Rebel Rugby Academy to take the win. This was a huge step up for Oakville, which had shown well in the U16 Elite in 2023, getting to the final. It was a massive showing for the Canadian club team, which beat select sides from all over to win. Next Phase edged EIRA 24-19 for 3rd and Jamaica Junior Crocs capped a very successful weekend with a 5th-place finish.
Toa Rugby were tested by Laguna Beach in the semis but not by much else as they cruised through to the championship, beating USA South Panthers 31-7 in the final. Laguna Beach took 3rd and Detroit RFC ended up losing just once, to Laguna Beach in the quarterfinals, to take 5th.
Boys U16s
Oakville and Charlotte Cardinals were outstanding on Day One, but on Day Two Oakville was pipped by Gorilla 19-12 in the semis. The Cardinals, then, took the title 33-7 over Gorilla. Oakville shut out Atlantis to take 3rd and local team Tampa Bay Stingrays finished off a 4-2 weekend to secure 5th.
Tampa Bay lost only to the two finalists.
In the Open Bracket, two Atlantis teams plus Gorilla and Badger Selects went 4-0 in pool play.
Those four made the semis (No quarterfinals as pool play was longer) with Atlantis U15s shutting out Badger Selects in the semis and defeating Gorilla 33-19 in the final. Badger took 3rd over Atlantis U16 Black while Charlotte Cardinals won the 5th-place final—their only loss being to the Atlantis U15s.
Boys U14s
The Sunny Coast Crocs, Atlantis, and USA South Panthers Academy all went 4-0 in pool play. The Crocs and Atlantis allowed just the one try each. In the end it was those two in the final with Sunny Coast winning 29-12. Loudound County did well to take 3rd, and Assassins Academy showed that Pool C was probably the toughest pool as they took 5th, meaning the top three in Pool C took 2nd (5-1), 3rd (4-2), and 5th (4-2).
U12s
In a lopsided bracket Gorilla tied Hawkeyes in a five-team Pool B so both teams ended up 3-0-1. In the four-team Pool A USA West won out 3-0. But Gorilla got the tiebreaker and faced Pool A #2 Upright, beating them in impressive fashion 35-5. Hawkeyes took care of USA West 30-5 so we had a rematch. It was close once more, but this time Gorilla—a team made up of players from Frisco Quins, Four Points, and Woodlands that had never played together before—ran out 15-10 winners.
Throughout the six games Gorilla only gave up 35 points, of which 25 were scored by the #2 team, Hawkeyes, in two games.
