The Denver Barbarians 7s lost 21-14 in the finals to the Woodland Exiles.  Next up Nationals August 6th and 7th.

Tournament Report by Howard Kent

The 44TH Annual Denver 7s Tournament featured 36 teams playing in 5 divisions. Men’s Qualifier 8 Teams, Men’s Collegiate 6 Teams, Women’s 4 Teams, Men’s Social 8 Teams, Boys HS/U19s 10 Teams. Hosted on July 23, 2011 at Prairie View Sport Complex known as Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for the 5th year, the 4 pitches were full size, flat and fast with clear sunny weather and temperatures in the low 90s. Staff at DSGP estimated the total attendance to be about 1000, similar to 2010.

The participants in the Men’s Qualifier (West RFU Club 7s Super Regional) play for the Michael Sneath Memorial Cup as well as a spot in the USARugby Men’s National Club 7s Championship in San Francisco August 5-7, 2011. As this was the third West RFU 7s Super Regional Qualifier teams were seeded based on the finish in the previous Qualifiers in Dallas and Kansas City. Four teams were tied at the top of the WRFU 7s comp and another 2 were in the hunt so the top 3 finishers in Denver were to be the 3 seeds from the West to the National Championship. The stage was certainly set for some top quality 7s.

Men’s WRFU Qualifier: Houston Woodlands Exiles, Denver Barbarians, Dallas Harlequins, Glendale Raptors, Gentlemen of Aspen, Kansas City Blues, Kansas City Rogues, Fort Bliss Strykers. Four late withdraws from this bracket left it with the same number of sides as last year’s participation.

Qualifier Division Results:
1st Place Houston Woodlands Exiles
2nd Place Denver Barbarians
3rd Place Glendale Raptors A
MVP: Denver Barbarian Ben Haapapuro

The Men’s Collegiate division was played as two pools of three teams: Univ. Colorado, Air Force Academy, New Mexico Tech Pygmies, Colo. School of Mines, Benedictine Col. Kansas Black Monks, Univ. Wyoming. Four late withdraws from this bracket left it short of last year’s participation.

Collegiate Division Results: CU defeat Air Force Academy 24 – 7
1st Place Univ. of Colorado
2nd Place Air Force Academy
MVP: Luke Lahman – University of Colorado

The Women’s division was played as a 4 team round robin: Glendale Raptor Women A & B, Houston Honey Badgers, Durango Fallen Angels. Two late withdraws from this bracket left it with the same number of sides as last year’s participation.

Women’s Division Results: Glendale Raptor’s Women defeat Houston Honey Badgers 28-5
1st Place Glendale Raptor Women A
2nd Place Houston Honey Badgers
MVP: Emily Spangler – Glendale

The Men’s Social division was played as two pools of four teams: Glendale, Highlanders, Boulder, Colorado Springs A & B, Well Hungarians, Broomfield Tigers Alumni, Albuquerque Aardvarks. Six late withdraws from this bracket left it short of last year’s participation.

Social Division Results: The Well Hungarians defeat Glendale Raptor’s B 15-0
1st Place The Well Hungarians
2nd Place Glendale Raptors A
MVP: Andrew Redfern – Well Hungarians

The Boys HS/U19 division was played as two pools of five teams: Colorado Springs, East White & Red, Aurora, Broomfield, Kansas City Junior Blues, SWARM, Littleton, Cherry Creek, Boulder. This was an increase in participation from 2010.

HS/U19s Division Results: Kansas City Junior Blues defeat Denver East High School 38-0
1st Place Kansas City Junior Blues
2nd Place East HS
MVP: Marcus Dirks – Jr. Blues

Men’s Qualifier West RFU Club 7s Super Regional details:
In Pool one the Woodlands Exiles finished undefeated with 3 wins, followed by the Glendale Raptors 2 wins 1 loss, Gentlemen of Aspen 1 win 2 loses and Fort Bliss Strykers 0 wins 3 loses.

In Pool two the Denver Barbarians finished undefeated with 3 wins, followed by the Dallas Harlequins with 2 wins 1 loss, Kansas City Blues 1 win 2 loses and Kansas Rogues 0 wins 3 loses.  The 3rd and 4th finishing teams in each pool played their opposites for the lower placings.

The Cup Semi final results were;
Denver Barbarians 28, 4t Glendale Raptors A 19, 3t
Houston Woodlands Exiles 19, 3t Dallas Harlequins15, 3t

7th Place Kansas Rogues 28, 4t Fort Bliss Strykers 19, 3t
5th Place Gentlemen of Aspen 28, 4t Kansas City Blues 7, 1t
3rd Place Glendale Raptors A 33, 5t Dallas Harlequins12, 2t.

1st Place Match
Halves 10 minutes
7 to 0 Barbos at halftime.
Final score Houston Woodlands Exiles 21, 3t Denver Barbarians 14, 2t
Referee: Pete Winkelbaur

Exiles, Barbarians & Raptor’s all advance to the US National Club 7s Championship in San Francisco Aug 5-7
Denver have now qualified as the second seed of three from the WRFU to the 16 team National Men’s Club 7s tourney in San Francisco, CA August 5 & 7, 2011.

Following the end of play the clubs proceeded to the post match festivities in Lower Downtown Denver. Thank you to the WRFU and ERRFU refs for their continued support.

Thanks to all who helped out.

The 2012 Denver 7s is planned for July 21, 2012.