Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s), the all-new professional rugby sevens league, which is officially sanctioned by USA Rugby, makes its debut with top North American men’s and women’s players on Saturday, October 9 at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee. This is an event that should not be missed and tickets are still available.
The league’s launch event, dubbed The PR7s Inaugural Championship, will be broadcast via FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT and live on FS2 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. EDT., as well as on TSN and for TSN Direct subscribers in Canada on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET on TSN.ca and the TSN app, and from 4 – 6 p.m. ET on TSN4.
The league’s first player signings featured several stars from both the Men’s and Women’s U.S. Olympic Rugby Sevens Teams, including Perry Baker, Danny Barrett, Abby Gustaitis, Carlin Isles, Alev Kelter, Kristi Kirshe, Folau Niua, Naya Tapper, Stephen Tomasin, and Kevon Williams.
There are also nine Canadian players and two Canadian coaches. Owen Scannell, CEO of Premier Rugby Sevens said “As a North American-based league, our intent is to bring PR7s events to Canada and attract more high-level Canadian athletes to our league as pandemic-related restrictions are lifted and we grow PR7s into the future.”
“Five of the Canadian players in PR7s are men, including former HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series player Jared Douglas. Canadian women to sign with PR7s include Delaney Aikens of the Canadian women’s sevens senior national team, University of Victoria Standout Emerald Maze, and Canadian International Women’s Players Julia Folk and Emily Samek. Additional men slated to suit up are Team Canada USport players Noah Bain and Jonas Robinson and rising Canadian 7s star Lucas Scheck. Robin MacDowell and Sean White are two PR7s coaches that have represented Rugby Canada internationally. A total of 120 North American players will be part of the inaugural event.”
The Headliners Men includes two alumni of the Memphis Inner City Rugby program, Calvin Gentry (the University of Memphis and MLR Collegiate Draft Dallas Jackals, and fellow Memphis-native Donovan Norphlet (Life University).
The teams have numerous Major League Rugby players and some current and former National Team players, as well as players who excelled at the USA Club Sevens Nationals and at various Collegiate Rugby Sevens tournaments.
The Premier Rugby Sevens has provided equal pay under one league umbrella and utilizes a touring format in cities across the U.S. and Canada. The league will feature six men’s teams and four women’s teams that will play multiple games in one location on a single day. Team brands include the Loonies, who will hail from the North, including Canada. The Team will represent Texas and the plains. The Loggerheads will associate with Cascadia. The Locals will ride with the New Yorkers. The Experts will emerge from the Mountain West. And the Headliners will identify with the Midsouth.
Open Trials
Memphis’ own @GhostRiverBrew is PR7s Official Festival Partner for the Inaugural Championship! Ghost River will be the Presenting Partner of our Festival Seating area and the host of the official PR7s Friday night and post-match events at their brand new Beale Street location.
Squads
Experts (men and women): https://prsevens.com/experts/
Experts Men: 1 Dave Hightower 2 Anthony Welmers 3 Corey Jones 4 Daniel Thomas 5 Royaal Jones 6 Luis Turbyfield 7 Watson Filikitonga 8 Logan Tago 9 Jake Klingelsmith 10 Noah Bain 11 Perry Baker (C) 12 Naima Fuala’au + Head Coach Justin Hundley, Assistant Coach David Fee
Experts Women: 1 Sui A’au 2 Neariah Persinger 3 Kaitlyn Broughton 4 Emily Samek 5 Amanda Berta 6 Jade McGrath 7 Summer Harris Jones 8 Erica Legaspi 9 Spencer Boldt 10 Bridget Kahahle 11 Katie Lohaus 12 Kristi Kirshe (C) + Head Coach Kate Daley, Assistant Coach Lauren Doyle
Headliners (men and women): https://prsevens.com/headliners/
Headliners Men: 1 Christopher Turori 2 Norvel (DJ) Stewart 3 Gavan D’Amore 4 Nick Boyer 5 Tim Stanfill 6 Jake Hidalgo 7 Folau Niua (C) 8 Calvin Gentry 9 Peter Tiberio 10 Luc Scheck 11 Terrell Johnson 12 Donovan Norphlet + Head Coach Tim Stanfill, Assistant Coach Brendan Keane
Headliners Women: 1 Nicole Strasko 2 Samantha “Sammy” Sullivan 3 Katie Johnson (KJ) 4 Alena Olsen 5 Lauren Kenyon 6 Irayda Karmin Macedo 7 Naya Tapper (C) 8 Dana Meschisi 9 Rachel Strasdas 10 Lindsey Mahoney 11 Kristen Thomas 12 Emily Wessel + Head Coach Andrew Locke, Assistant Coach TBA
Loggerheads (men and women): https://prsevens.com/loggerheads/
Loggerheads Men: 1 Lance Williams 2 Nick Johnson 3 Devin Short 4 Cian Barry 5 Patrick Madden 6 Kevon Williams (C) 7 D’Montae Noble 8 Tommy Clark 9 Brendon Curle 10 Jarbaree Leopold 11 Leon Powell 12 Martin Iosefo + Head Coach Colton Carriaga, Assistant Coach Martin Iosefo
Loggerheads Women: 1 Salote Tausinga 2 Rachel Pau’u 3 Asinate Serevi 4 Isadora (Izzy) Cerullo 5 Kayla Canett 6 Steph Rovetti 7 Jaz Gray 8 Autumn LoCicero 9 Lauren Thunen 10 Corinne Heavner 11 Megan Foster 12 Jessica Lu + Head Coach Ros Chou, Assistant Coach Tiff Fa’aee
Loonies (men and women): https://prsevens.com/loonies/
Loonies Men: 1 Matt Drzewiecki 2 Jared Douglas 3 Devereaux Ferris 4 Chris Mattina 5 Shane Moore 6 Rod Waters 7 Giovani Douyon 8 Akinola (Aki) Raymond 9 Steve Tomasin IC) 10 Carmen Consolino 11 John Powers 12 David Verburg + Head Coach Sean White, Assistant Coach TBA
Loonies Women: 1 Julia Folk 2 Cortney Kuehl 3 Joanne “Nana” Fa’avesi 4 Delaney Aikens 5 Alev Kelter (C) 6 Alex “Spiff” Sedrick 7 Sarah Levy 8 Glory Woolley 9 Hallie Taufoou 10 Sophia Pyrz 11 Amanda Hull 12 Josephine ‘Jo’ Asumang + Head Coach Kelly Griffin, Assistant Coach Robin McDowell
Locals (men only): https://prsevens.com/locals/
Locals Men: 1 Jojo Titosuva 2 Jimmy Haley 3 Matai Aleut’s 4 Connor Buckley 5 Tai Enosa 6 Owen Brombal 7 Ross Depperschmidt 8 Patrick Regan 9 Aymere Oiyemhonlan 10 Alex Dorrier 11 Sondai Adjei 12 Robert Zarcone + Head Coach Peter Sio, Assistant Coach Salty Thompson (Note: Adam Channel and Marcus Tupuola are not available and replacements will be posted when known.)
The Team (men only): https://prsevens.com/elementor-1083/
The Team Men: 1 Aaron Cummings 2 John Ryberg 3 Danny Barrett (C) 4 Cristian Rodriguez 5 Thomas Isherwood 6 Jerome Nale 7 Harley Wheeler 8 Skyler Mitchell 9 James Vaifale 10 Coleson Warner 11 Aren Martin 12 ConRoy Smith + Head Coach Tui Osborne, Assistant Coach Ethan Pougnet
PR7s Schedule
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