The 2019 USA Rugby Club 7s Nationals will be held on August 10-11at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, MO. This past weekend the teams were finalized for Nationals. FloRugby will be broadcasting the event.
The first teams that qualified for the 2019 USA Rugby Club 7s Nationals was Schuylkill River, who won the Eastern Open Qualifier, while Life West won the Western Open Qualifier.
As the result of Schuylkill River earning an automatic bid at the Eastern Open, the Mid-Atlantic added a second team with National Athletic Village (NAV) Sevens Selects joining them after winning two of the three MAC qualifiers this summer. NAV won at the Blue Ball and NOVA 7s and they will be making its first appearance at Nationals.
The Mid-Atlantic Women includes 2018 runner-up, Scion Rugby Academy, who are the #1 seed in the Mid-Atlantic after an undefeated season in rugby sevens. They will be joined by Northern Virginia (NOVA) and the D.C. Furies as the second and third seeds.
In the Atlantic North, Old Blue secured the #1 Men’s seed beating #2 Mystic River in teh finals at the Saratoga 7s. Old Blue won three of the four Northeast Sevens tournaments ove Mystic River and both teams faced each other in the finals. New York Rugby Club earned the #1 Women’s seed with Boston a close second, and will also be at Nationals.
In the South, Atlanta Old White won each qualifier, while the Atlanta Harlequins and Phoenix 7s earned the #1 and #2 seeds for the South, respectively.
The Midwest Ruegy Union is different in that it uses it’s qualfiers for seeding purposes for the Midwest 7s Championships. At the Cin City 7s, the Chicago Lions won the men’s and women’s finals over Milwaukee and Chicago North Shore, respectively. The four teams will represent the Midwest.
In the West, Life West won the Western Open and received an automatci bid to Nationals. At the Pacific North Championship, two sides from Life West, Washington Athletic Clb, Westside Ronin, Sacramento Capital, and the Olympic Club met with Westside Ronin gaining the #1 seed with a 24-19 win over Life West. Washington Atlhetic Club then earned a spot at Nationals with a win over Sacramento in the third place match.
The Women’s bracket featured Washington Athletic Club, Oregon Sports Rugby Union, Life West, Berkeley All Blues, and San Francisco Golden Gate with three bids on the line in the the round robin tournament. Berkeley All Blues edged Life West, 22-14 in overtime, for the Pacific North Championship and the Washington Athletic Club blanked ORSU, 19-0, in the third place match.
In the Pacific South, the San Diego Surfers sweept the regional qualifiers this summer. The Santa Barbara Academy will make its first appearance at Nationals as the second seed.
The Pacific South Men’s Sevens was very competitive this season and Belmont Shore will send two sides to Nationals. At the Sunsplash 7s, Belmont Gold beat out its Blue team for the title and the Pacific South #1 seed with its second qualifier victory. Belmont Blue, the club’s first side and last year’s National runner-up, drew the second seed.
In the Red River, the Red River Rampage 7s winner earned its spot at Nationals. The Dallas Reds and New Orleans split the previous qualifier points and in this last qualfier, Dallas beat NOLA 17-0.
For the Women, the American Rugby Pro Training Center (ARPTC) will have two teams going to Nationals.
In the Frontier, Rocky Mountain Magic locked up the women’s spot, while the third spot for the men was decided at the Pioneer 7s in Salt Lake City, Utah. Park City Haggis and the Denver Barbarians had already secured two of the men’s bids, and the last bid went to the Kansas City Blues, who won the Utah Qualifier over Park City, 21-19.
