The second day of the 10th annual RugbyTown 7s tournament was a cool one at Infinity Park.
Normally, the blistering temperature matches the intensity of the action on the pitch, but a cool and rainy Saturday was a nice change of pace as eight teams battled it out for the chance to take home the $10,000 grand prize and Army locked up their eighth Armed Forces Championship title.
Army remained unbeaten in pool play to punch their ticket to the Armed Forces Championship match as the top seed where they clashed with Navy who looked to defend their 2021 title. Army jumped out to an early lead in the first half and never looked back, keeping their foot on the gas to defeat Navy 27-7 and secure the RugbyTown Armed Forces Title for the eighth time in the 10 years that it has existed.
With the Armed Forces Championship in the bag, Army met the Ramblin’ Jesters – the 2019 RugbyTown 7s champions – in the Cup semifinals. The Jesters smothered Army defensively and used two timely tries to earn a 14-0 victory and stay in the hunt for the RugbyTown crown.
NAV 7s and the Tel Aviv Heat gave fans a Cup quarterfinal that they won’t soon forget. After Tel Aviv caught NAV 7s napping on a quick lineout and scored what they believed to be the game-winning try to advance to the Cup semifinal, the official reversed the decision and NAV 7s capitalized. Seimou Smith got the ball out wide and reached in for the game-winning try to remain unbeaten in the tournament and in contention for the $10,000 grand prize. NAV will have to knock out the 2019 champs in the Ramblin’ Jesters if they want to take home their first RugbyTown 7s title.
USA U-23s continued their unbeaten campaign at the 2022 RugbyTown 7s with a 26-12 victory over a strong Casanovas side in the third Cup quarterfinal of the evening. With the victory, the USA U-23s remained in the mix to win their first RugbyTown 7s title since claiming the crown in 2014. If they complete the job, it would be the third time that the side has won the competition, which would be the most for any single club in the history of the tournament.
After a slight slip earlier in the day that resulted in a 21-10 loss to the Denver 7s Selects to close out pool play, the Tsunami Barbarians responded in a big way when it mattered most. Tsunami Barbarians righted the ship with a 46-0 wire-to-wire victory over Navy to hit the lights on Day 2 of the 2022 tournament and stay in the mix for the elusive title for RugbyTown 7s title. To get there, they will have to duke it out with the red-hot USA U-23s.
The Bowl quarterfinals provided fans with exciting rugby throughout the evening as well. When the dust settled, the slate for Sunday looked like this:
Shield Semifinals
Air Force vs. Team Germany
British Columbia Bears vs. Marines
Bowl Semifinals
Denver 7s Selects vs. SoCal Griffins
Gorilla Rugby vs. Lions 7s
Plate Semifinals
Army vs. Tel Aviv Heat
Casanovas vs. Navy
Cup Semifinals
Ramblin’ Jesters vs. NAV 7s
USA U-23s vs. Tsunami Barbarians
Air Force and Team Germany will get Day 3 of the 2022 RugbyTown 7s started on Sunday, August 21 at 11 AM MT. The complete schedule, ticketing information, and the live stream can be found on RugbyTown7s.com.
