Limerick 7s: Northeast Academy, SFGG Wrap Up Day Two

August 22, 2015

Limerick 7s: Northeast Academy, SFGG Wrap Up Day Two

Day two at the Limerick World Club Sevens will initially focus on both the Shield and the Cup competition. San Francisco Golden Gate, Ulster, Leinster and Stade Francais will challenge for places 9 to 12. The remaining 8 clubs, Buenos Aires, Samurai, Canadian Maple Leafs, Golden Lions, Northeast Academy (New York 7s), Connacht, Daveta and Munster go for the Cup today.

Day One sorted out the Pool brackets and saw many exciting matches. For a recap, see http://djcoilrugby.com/2015/08/21/limerick-7s-northeast-academy-sfgg-wrap-up-day-one/

After the day one competition ended, Thomond Stadium turned its attention to rugby 15s, as host Munster lost a Guinness Pro 12 Rugby pre-season match 12-28 to Connacht in front of 2,700 spectators. Limerick is hoping for good play from Munster today in sevens to brighten their spirits.

Take the jump to read more.

Shield

In the first match of the day, Ulster beat San Francisco Golden Gate 17-7 in a Shield Semi-final. Don Pati scored the try and Taylor Howden converted. Leinster won 33-19 against Stade Francais in the other Semi-final. There will be an all Irish Shield Final later, while San Francisco Golden Gate and Stade Francais face off in an 11th/12th place match. Pride is on the line!

Cup Quarterfinals

In Cup Quarterfinal action, Samurai and Buenos Aires drew in regulation 21-21. Samurai won in extra time 26-21, advancing to the Cup Semi-finals, while Buenos Aires moved to the Plate Semi-finals. The Golden Lions then beat the Canadian Maple Leafs 19-5. Justin Douglas scored the lone try for Canada. This set up a Samurai – Golden Lions Cup Semi-Final and a Buenos Aires – Maple Leaf Plate Semi-final.

Connacht raced to a 21-0 Halftime lead on tries by Fionn Carr, Shane O’Leary and Shane Layden against the Northeast Academy. During the second half, New York mounted a comeback with two tries by Rick Kirkland, both converted by Nate Augspurper. Chris Frazier scored another try, but felt heartbreak as Nate Augspurger’s conversion hit the posts. Connacht won 21-19.

Defending Champions Daveta, then beat host club Munster 40-14. Daveta advanced to the Cup Semi-final against Connacht, while Munster will face the Northeast Academy in a Plate Semi-final.

11th/12th Place

Stade Francais and San Francisco Golden Gate drew 19-19 in regulation, as Golden Gate’s Ricky Reynolds scored a late try. Other regulation tries came from Bubba Jones and Don Pati. Taylor Howden added two conversions. In extra time, Dan Pati earned Golden Gate’s first win 26-19 with a try and conversion to finish in 11th place.

The Limerick World Club Sevens tweeted “From their line dancing to their rugby, the defenders of the Golden Gate have been great at the Limerick 7s.” They completed the tournament 1-4, but with 3 close losses. Something to build upon!

Shield Final

In an all Irish Final, Leinster prevailed over Ulster 33-17. Ulster fought back from a 28-0 halftime deficit, adding 3 second half tries. Shield winner Leinster, will take some hardware back to Dublin.

Plate Semi-Finals

The plate Semi-finals have tremendous North American interest, as the Canadian Maple Leafs take on Buenos Aires, while the New York 7s (Northeast Academy) face host and crowd favorite, Munster.

Both matches had disappointing North American results. Buenos Aires moved to the Plate Final with a 21-17 win against the Canadian Maple Leafs. Sean White, Thomas Fuly and Admir Cejvanovic had tries in their close loss.

The New York 7s (Northeast Academy) delighted the crowd in their loss to Munster 33-10. It was all Munster who fashioned a 19-5 halftime lead on tries by Steve McMahon, Alex Wootton and Sonny Dwyer. Marcus Henderson scored for New York. The final was 33-10 with Steve McMahon adding his second try and Cian Aherne also scoring. Nate Augspurger added a try for New York.

Munster will join Buenos Aires in the Plate Final, while the Northeast Academy will play the Canadian Maples Leafs in a 7/8th place match.

Cup Semi-Finals

The first Semi-final pitted Samurai against the Golden Lions (South Africa). In a thrilling match the score ended 17 all after regulation. At one point, the Lions were down to 5 players. The Samurai gained a Final spot in extra time with a gritty try in the corner by Pedro Leal to win 22-17.

Reigning champs Daveta (Fiji) won 26-0 against Connacht. The Cup Final will be Samurai versus Daveta. Connacht will play the Golden Lions for 3rd Place.

7/8th Place

In a battle of North American rugby teams, the Canadian Maple Leafs took at 17-14 halftime lead against the Northeast Academy (NY7s). That was not enough as the final went to the Northeast Academy 28-22.

The Maple Leafs scored first, but New York tied the match at 7 as Nate Brakeley took the kickoff and offloaded to Nate Augspurger for the try and conversion. Canada extended the lead to 17-7 with two tries until Derek Lipscombe gave a pop pass to Sean Rafferty for a try. Nate Augspurger then converted to end the half 14-17. Northeast Acedmy never looked back after an early Derek Lipscombe try and Augspurger conversion. Nate Augspurger continued his scoring onslaught with a try and conversion to lead 28-17. A last gasp try by Mike Fuailefau for Canada narrowed the Final to 28-22 to New York.

If you are superstitious, this could be perceived as a precursor to an Eagles 15s win in Ottawa today against Canada. I will err on superstition today.

Plate Final

The crowd was excited and not deterred by the rain as they saw Munster take a halftime lead against Buenos Aires 19-14 on the strength of two tries by Alan Bennie and another by Alex Wootton. The floodgates however, erupted late as Buenos Aires came back to win the Plate 43-19.

3rd Place

Will the Irish smile today with a 3rd place finish? Connacht took a 14-7 halftime lead against the Golden Lions on the strength of tries by James Connolly after intercepting a pass on the Lions try line and then by Shane O’Leary. They increased their lead in the second half to 21-7 after an O’Leary pop pass to Danny Qualter for a try with 4 minutes left. A straight red card for Connacht resulted in a Gold Lions try with 30 seconds left, but Connacht survived to win 21-14. A third place finish was earned today by Connacht.

Cup Final

The early firepower of Deveta rugby would not be denied. Tries by Sakiusa Gavidi and Emori Waqa lead to a 12-0 halftime lead versus Samurai. An opportunity to score near the end of the half was thwarted by Deveta’s defense. Early in the second half, Samurai’s Waddleton narrowed the score to 12-5. That quickly changed as Emori Waqa scored his second try. Deveta now led 19-5. Samurai stormed back with two tries by Aderito Assuncao, but Pierre Peres was not able to convert the last try. The match ended and Daveta repeated as Champion.

USA Slant

It wasn’t the finish that was hoped for as the Northeast Academy finished 7th and San Francisco Golden Gate finished 11th at the Limerick World Clubs Sevens. These were not the same teams as last year that included a few Eagles 7s players for each team’s roster. Still, very competitive performances were evident by both teams.

The New York team had an excellent first day finishing second in their pool to tournament champions Daveta. They had wins against Stade Francais and Leinster before losing to Daveta. The second day resulted in a narrow loss to 3rd place winner Connacht and another to Plate finalist Munster. In finishing 7th, they did beat the Canadian Maple Leafs, which is always good in the United Sates.

San Francisco Golden Gate, did not match up well against the Samurai, who finished in second place at the tournament, but then had narrow losses to the Canadian Maple Leafs and Munster. Today, they had a competitive loss to Ulster before beating Stade Francais for 11th place. The players will benefit from the tough competition that this tournament provides.

Ireland Teams

When examining the growth of Ireland Rugby Sevens, Ireland will be proud of the 3rd place finish by Connacht, host Munster reaching the Plate Final, and Leinster winning the Shield against Ulster. The Limerick World Club Sevens is an excellent tournament that will continue to improve the state of rugby sevens worldwide.

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