BC Rugby’s NextGen 7s Women’s Team Take First Place at 2017 Las Vegas Invitational
BC Rugby – Strong finishes for all BC Rugby teams at the Las Vegas Invitational this year.
Vancouver, BC – March 7, 2017: Our BC Rugby teams performed extraordinarily at the Las Vegas Invitational (LVI) last week. The standout team was the NextGen 7s Women’s Team who took first place in the Women’s Open Division. The NextGen 7s Men’s team placed 5th while all the BC Rugby Elite Youth teams finished in the top 4 in each of their divisions. The BC Rugby Elite Girls’ 7s teams came out strong, placing in the top 3 for all 3 teams. Overall, the BC Rugby teams demonstrated the success and potential of the Representative Team programs.
Aaron Frisby, Head Coach of the NextGen 7s Men’s and Women’s teams reflects on his team’s performance and his plans for the Vancouver Rugby Festival, “The women put on an amazing performance at the tournament peaking at the right time and put on a spectacular show in the final. Over the last three years, the women have only lost one game in Las Vegas so we are hoping to keep the core of this squad together, continue to develop and take the next step of competing in the Elite division in Vegas.
We can’t wait to test ourselves against UBC and Central Washington University at the Vancouver Rugby Festival and attempt to come out as back to back champions.
Unfortunately, we lost one of our stand out players, Meghan Wellis, due to injury but we have strengthened the squad for Vancouver with the addition of Demi Stamatakis, Courtney Sims, Selina McGinnis and Lauren Sargent.
The Men faced some quality sides in Vegas and played very good team sevens at times. Everyone on the squad this year was new to the program so the guys really started to grow as a team as we progressed through the tournament. A fifth placed finish is nothing to be disappointed in but we will be looking to put more complete and consistent performances on the field in Vancouver.
We have added some very strong players for the Vancouver competition with Darwin Guevara, Jared Douglas, Ignacio Rodriguez-Guerra Yraolagoitia and Michael Nieuwenhuysen joining us.”
Darcy Patterson, Head Coach for the BC Rugby Elite Girls’ 7s program celebrates the hard work of her players during the Invitational, “Going to an international competition and coming out top 3 across all our teams is a huge achievement and shows that we have strong programs across the ages.
It also shows the depth of our rugby in BC. It demonstrates that we need to keep working hard developing our players at a local level with more regional competition but also exposing them to higher competition in international tournaments.
It was great to see all the gains and development of our players throughout the 3 days, especially the U18 BC Blue team and the U16 Girls.”
Teams are now gearing up for this week’s National U18 Sevens Championship and the Vancouver Rugby Festival, both happening on Thursday March 9th and Friday March 10th.
Results from the LVI:
BC Rugby Men’s NextGen 7s
Competing in Men’s Aces 7s Division
L 28 – 31 to Old White
W 38 – 0 over Bridge City
W 50 – 5 over Hooligans Select
L 12 – 24 to Humless (QF Cup)
W 24 – 0 over The Selects (Cup)
Fifth Place Finish
BC Rugby Women’s NextGen 7s
Competing in Women’s Open 7s
W 26 – 5 over Chicago Lions
W 26 – 5 over Scion Sirens
W 28 – 0 over The Selects
W 17 – 10 over Lady Vipers (SF Cup)
W 14 – 5 over Scion Sirens (Cup Final)
First Place Finish
BC Rugby Elite Boys 7s (Gold)
Competing in Boys High School Elite 7s
L 5 – 19 to DMV United
W 17 – 15 EIRA
W 12 – 10 Atavus
L 14 – 38 to NZ Taniwha (QF Cup)
W 26 – 17 over USA South Panthers (SF Plate)
Fifth Place Finish
BC Rugby Elite Boys 7s (Navy)
Competing in Boys High School Open 7s
W 28 – 0 over Gold
W 26 – 19 over Red
W 26 – 19 over Bobcats
W 14 – 12 over Herriman Gold (QF Cup)
L 0 – 29 to NZ Taniwha
W 14 – 0 over Belmont Blue (Cup 3/4 Match)
Third Place Finish
BC Rugby Elite Boys 7s (U16)
Competing in Boys U16 7s
W 27 – 21 over Ari Bob
W 46 – 0 over SD Select
W 26 – 5 over USA South
W 44 – 0 SD Select (QF Cup)
L 14 – 29 to Atlantis (SF Plate)
Fourth Place Finish
BC Rugby Elite Girls 7s (Gold)
Competing in Girls HS Elite 7s
L 19 – 33 to Atlantis
W 14 – 7 over Play Rugby
W 59 – 0 over Glendale
W 19 – 7 over Utah Cannibals (QF Cup)
L 21 – 24 to Atlantis (SF Cup)
Third Place Finish
BC Rugby Elite Girls 7s (Blue)
Competing in Girls HS Open 7s
W 46 – 0 over Tenn Tri Star
W 33 – 0 over Cowhichan Maroon
W 48 – 0 over AKYRC
L 22 – 24 to Foothill Lions
W 24 – 12 over Utah Cannibals (Cup 3/4 Match)
Third Place Finish
BC Rugby Elite Girls 7s (U16)
Competing in Girls U16 7s
W 17 – 29 over Sydney City A
W 34 – 0 Ari Bobcats
W 29 – 5 over Foothill Lions
L 12 – 20 Sydney City A (SF Cup)
W 7 – 5 South Bay (Cup 3/4 Match)
Third Place Finish
About the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament
The Las Vegas Invitational — the largest rugby tournament in North America — will take place March 2 – 4, 2017 and will be played alongside the USA Sevens international rugby tournament held annually in Las Vegas. The LVI is considered the premier amateur rugby event in the United States, featuring athletes and match-ups across a wide-range of rugby divisions and age groups.
About BC Rugby NextGen 7s Programs
BC Rugby offers a provincial men’s and women’s program for players who have graduated from the Elite Youth age group and want to continue to develop their skills in the Sevens game. These teams will represent BC in the Las Vegas Invitational tournament as well as the Vancouver Rugby Festival in March 2017.
About BC Rugby Elite Youth 7s Programs
The BC Rugby Elite Girls’ 7s and Elite Boys’ 7s Programs are designed to help develop young athletes into the rugby players who will be best qualified to represent Canada with distinction at future Olympic Games and on the World Rugby 7s circuit.
The BC Rugby Elite Girls’ 7s Program is proudly supported by the Onni Group.
The BC Rugby Elite Boys’ 7s Program is proudly supported by Adera.
More information about BC Rugby
The British Columbia Rugby Union, commonly known as BC Rugby, is the governing body for Rugby in British Columbia and is a Provincial Union of Rugby Canada, the national governing body. Representing over 7,500 individuals registered through around 60 Member Clubs and Associations across the Province, BC Rugby leads and manages the sport with the aim to grow participation and develop excellence in all games of Rugby and in all facets of the sport.
Web: bcrugby.com
Twitter: twitter.com/bcrugbyunion
Facebook: facebook.com/bcrugbyunion
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For further information, please contact:
BC Rugby
Cassie Xiong
Marketing & Communications Manager
Tel: +1- 604-737-3070