AVBF Rugby 7s #2 (Everything Thread)

by **Lisander** » Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:56 pm

proudly presented to you by:

Irises 34, Schottia 0.
by Pedro Dalena, for TV5 Sports

LISANDER 34 - 0 SCHOTTIA
Scoring Summary
Try - S. Livon (M. Gear) 0:34
PK - D. Skye 2:12
Try - S. Livon (M. Gear) 3:57
Try - K. Armada (M. Gear) 7:00+
Try - D. Alfyn (No Conversion (11:12)
Try - D. Alfyn (No Conversion (13:35)

Lisander took Schottia to dance in Burgunden. And it is with this speech laden with lyricism that we are going to describe the game. Theodora, our trainee, went outside to throw up. Strange, I thought she liked it. It was fine ball. Strongers like stoats, fast like stoats, jumping like stoats. Have you ever watched a stoat escaping with a sausage? The Irises were the same against Schottia. Quick, alert and strong. The Schottian team, in its first tournament, had not other choice the dance lead by Sebastian Livon, running between the backs to score 5-0 between the posts with only 34 seconds. Matthew Gear kicked the conversion to 7-0 and the dance restarted. Schottians are not interested in allow this, and with 2 minutes, interrupted the party with a high tackle. Result? Penalty Kick for Lisander. Skye to kick, 8-0.

If with 7v7 was easy, 7v6 proved even easier. In the "power play" (Do not confuse sports, I'll still write about Lisander v Kaboomlandia in WCoH, but here now the subject is rugby), Sebastian Livon had a great time. With no fullback to even try hold him, He scored other try between the posts. Gear converted again, 17-0 with four minutes. Schottia tried to track the steps, but had not sucess in nothing more than hold Irises a little. The advantage would grow one more time in the first half. Kevin Armada scored a try in the last play of the half. Gear converted to 24-0.

For the coach it was enough. The same team have not returned for the second half. With the plate final game against Barunia clearly secured, Assen replaced Livon by Alfyn, Linzmeyer back by Blanche, Matthew Gear by his brother Maurice, Skye by Olson and Carrasso by Saint-Jacques.

The second half was slow, Lisander only managed the game. Daniel Alfyn, a more defensive fullback, was allowed to attack more, and scored his first international tries. But Maurice Gear had not good position to convert any of two, since Alfyn just searched the sides of the field. In the end, the younger of the Gear brothers looked upset about that, but not enough to cover the happiness for the victory.

by **Nueva Andalusia** » Sun Jan 15, 2017 2:02 pm

Gonzalo Cordero stood just off the pitch as his troops moved off off of it following their close win over Islana Lunigo. 22-17 had been the final, and it was a thrilling finish. The Horneros and their opponents had traded tries and conversions in the first half, going into it tied 14-14. The second half had been much more defensive, with each team only managing a drop goal when the tackling had been fast and furious. But the Horneros had the final possession, which was all that mattered. It started with Urbano Perez making a good open-field tackle on his opposite number. Onofre Conti then blew up the poor Islana Lunigo prop that tried to set up over the fly half and protect the ball. In swooped Damian de la Cruz, grabbing the ball and tossing it out quickly to Perez, who led the attack down the pitch. Perez offloaded to Julio Cesar Pereira, who sprinted past the Islana Lunigo defender. When the opposing fullback caught up to Pereira, he offloaded to Aurelio Castro the fullback. The horn sounded as Castro was racing alone towards the try line, so he didn't bother to place it between the posts and simply dove across the line to provide the final margin.

It was hard to believe they were in the bowl final against Savojarna, who'd easily dispatched Madives, 28-10, in the earlier game. Cordero hadn't come in with big expectations, but Nueva Andalusianos liked their rugby and his team was disappointed they weren't competing for the Cup. Of course, blowout losses to Elejamie, Hutanjia, and Lisander had ended that hope, as well as a narrow 21-17 defeat to Alice Bay. Only a 34-7 win over hopeless Madives had saved them from the ignominy of last place. Of course, that same Madives team had turned around and eliminated one of the only ranked teams in the bowl competition, Jeckland, while their next opponents, Savojarna, had defeated the other ranked team, Ethane. The Horneros had been matched up against Bvriana in their quarterfinal and had finally played like they should, defeating Bvriana 33-5. Now they were on the precipice of a trophy, albeit the 17th place one.

by **Neu Engollon** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 12:40 am

CONFEDERACY PARK, BURGUNDEN
RUGBY EXHIBITION PITCHES

CUP SEMIFINALS

Elejamie 31–5 United States of Devonta
Racao 12–31 Nova Anglicana

The Maracalo Cup Final:
Elejamie vs Nova Anglicana

The Maracalo Cup 3rd Place Playoff:
Racao vs United States of Devonta

PLATE FINAL

Lisander 28–12 Barunia

BOWL FINAL

Nueva Andalusia 24–14 Savojarna

by **Nova Anglicana** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 6:12 pm

Lions have a chance to make it three straight

Harland Howerton, Londinium Courier

The AVBF 7s is almost over. Almost all the rugby has been played, and almost all the beer has been drunk. Nueva Andalusia is the best of the bottom-feeders, defeating Savojarna 24-14 to win the Bowl. The boys of Lisander proved their mettle by taking out the middling teams, including a pretty good Barunia Waves team 28-12 to claim the Plate. At this point, there are only two teams left standing: the 4th-ranked squad from Elejamie and the 2nd-ranked Lions. The Lions are looking for their third straight 7s tournament championship and second straight NSRB 7s tournament, while Elejamie hasn't won a Cup yet, though they did finish 3rd in the URSA 7s. How did each side get here?

Elejamie

Elejamie was placed in Group D, where they were the top seed along with a strong Hutanjia side and the Lisanderians who would win the plate. They thrashed Nueva Andalusia 33-5 to open up the tournament, then took a tough 28-14 loss to a Hutanjia team who would finish first in their group. They then barely escaped Lisander, 26-19, took a too-narrow 22-10 win over winless Madives, and almost slipped up against Alice Bay before winning, 19-17. Despite their pedestrian +35 point differential, they finished 4-0-1 and made it into the playoffs, albeit as the #7 seed. First up was a matchup with hosts Neu Engollon, who won all five of their group-stage matches. The Goats are a strong team, but they have struggled as of late to earn results, and this was no exception, as Elejamie took them down 24-19. United States of Devonta sprung an upset, defeating undefeated Hutanjia 26-12, but they were no match for Elejamie, who dominated them 31-5. Two impressive wins for the #7 seed and they make their first Cup final.

Nova Anglicana

The Lions blasted past Savojarna 33-14 in their first game, just like Elejamie, and then just like Elejamie, lost their second game in a particularly close match to United States of Devonta, 19-17. It was an especially galling loss since the Lions had defeated them by a combined 81 points in their two previous matches. A 31-10 and 42-5 thrashing of Ethane and Mattijana, respectively, put them in second place going into the last match behind the undefeated Devontans. But then the Devontans tripped up massively, losing 31-5 to a middling Mattijana side while the Lions whipped Schottia 38-14. The combination of these two events allowed the Lions to slip into first place and grab the fifth seed and a quarterfinal matchup against Frenline Delpha. That game went better than the baseball team's series against the Anacondas, as the Lions slipped past them, 28-19. The Lions faced off against Racao in the semifinals. Racao is the #1 ranked team and a team the Lions have faced and defeated three times, twice in fairly close games and once in a complete blowout. The Lions split the difference this time and cruised to a 31-12 win, leading 17-7 at the half and then scoring the final 14 points after Racao opened the half with a try.

Elejamie are led by their veteran centre Phil McKenzie, but he suffered a leg injury in their match against Hutanjia and has been limited since then. In his relative absence, it's been a team effort and this team really is strong. It will be a tough match for the Lions, but they've got the depth and experience to take home their third straight 7s championship.

by **Elejamie** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 6:32 pm

We've Made It to the Cup Final!
Dave Carrey - Burgenden, Neu Engollon

Yes, I know I'm writing this a bit early but there's a good reason for that. A very good reason if you've read the title. Yes, Coach Aaron Kim and his boys have made it to their first final since the second Londinium 7s way back when. Yes, that was the Plate final and this is the Cup final but it's still a massive achievement. The downside is that we're up against Nova Anglicana. They won the Cup back in Port Louis and they won't the Cup back in Soria. And now they're looking for a three-peat. Goody.

So, how did we get here? By plane, obviously. But where did we come in the group stage? Second, if you've read my Group D roundup, which you can if you haven't here (and don't worry; as always, there's a link to it at the end). Will I give you a quick roundup? Yes: 4-0-1. We beat Nueva Andalusia on the opening day, 33-5. However, we went down pretty badly to Hutanjia, 28-14. Phil MacKenzie got injured in that last game and had to miss the 26-19 win over Lisander. He was benched for the 22-10 victory over Madives but made a comeback in the Alice Bay game, where he saved us from defeat by scoring that try to level the scores, with Gary Toda converting it to put us in the Cup.

Gary Toda, seen here in his
team's 28-26 defeat to
Rosetta in their ERC semi-
final game, ended up
causing a lot of grief for
the United States of
Devonta

Then came the Cup Stage. We were drawn against the hosts, Neu Engollon, which was surely going to put us in for a bad time. Although we scored the first try thanks to Mical Caerofim, with Toda puttin it in between the posts, Wilhelm Hoerner scored two penalties and converted Marino Riazzi's try to put the hosts in the lead going into half-time, 13-7. Toda would later score a penalty shortly after the break to narrow the gap to tie things up but Hoerner would score two more penalties to extend their lead. Even when Toda scored a try and converted it, it seemed like the Maracalo Cup would be out of reach.

But then a miracle happened. We were past the 14 minute mark, meaning that the next stoppage of time would be the end of the game. Johann Dorff was on the attack, hoping to score a last minute try. He was brought down by Phil MacKenzie. But, instead of a Neu Engollian player picking up the ball, they ended up turning it over to Diego Molina, who proceeded to begin the Elejamian counterattack. Molina passed it over to MacKenzie, who then passed it over to David Kramer. Kramer was brought down but Toda managed to salvage the ball and keep the attack going. Then he was brought down inside the 22. There was a massive scramble for the ball but Caerofim just managed to get to it. He then passed it to Kramer who leapt over Rocco Gondino and scored the winning try for Elejamie. Toda converted it and we then made our way to the next round with a 24-19 win.

And then there was the semi-final against the United States of Devonta. They were quite easy, to say the least. Gary Toda scored the first try about a minute in but he wasn't able to convert it. Then they scored a try which also wasn't converted. Toda managed to makeup for that conversion miss, however, with a penalty shortly afterwards. Then another. And, just before half-time, he topped things off with a drop goal to put his team ahead 14-5 going into the break. I think it's safe to say that this probably wasn't going to be Devonta's game anytime soon.

The second half didn't help matters either. Gary Toda scored a second try shortly after the break, which he managed to successfully convert this time. Then he followed things up with a penalty from 33m. I'm pretty sure that, because of all the points he racked up in this game, Gary Toda's now unofficially banned from the United States of Devonta, much like he is from Bvriania. Fortunately, as far as I know, there aren't any sorcerers in the USD, so that he won't end up hurting his leg going for a long kick. Where was I? Oh, yes. Kevin Gabriel, who replaced David Kramer at half-time, scored the final try of the game; a simple run under the posts following a scrum just outside the Devontan 22, swiftly followed by a final Toda conversion. Although they had the ball in the dying seconds and were poised to score a consolation try, Phil MacKenzie stole the ball and booted it into the crowd, sending his team into their first Cup final with a 31-5 victory.

Diego Molina, seen here in practice
with his team the Auckhampton
Birch Trees. Will he captain his team
to their first Sevens Cup?

But what about Nova Anglicana? They too finished 4-0-1 in their group, with wins against Savojarna (33-14); Ethane (31-10); Mattijana (42-5); and Schottia (38-14). In fact, as I've previously stated, that "1" I mentioned was a 19-17 defeat to Devonta in the second round of the pool stage. However, they finished first in their group thanks to point difference (+99 compared to Devonta's +26), compared to us finishing in second place. Their good form continued in their Cup QF game against Group C runners-up Frenline Delpha, beating them 28-19; followed by beating Group A runners-up Racao 31-12 in a rematch of both their Port Louis 7s final match (28-21 to NA) and URSA Sevens semi-final (47-7 to NA) to make it to their third consecutive sevens final (even if one of those wasn't sanctioned).

So who will lift the Cup in Burgenden? On the one hand, Nova Anglicana has skills, finesse and enough evidence to prove they're a world class team. They've lifted the Cup in Port Louis, they lifted the Cup in Soria and they took home third place in the Londinum 7s. So it looks like they'll make it three in a row here in Burgenden and avenge their quarter-final exit at the last AVBF Sevens. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're definitely going to win. They lost 19-17 to the United States of Devonta. We beat Neu Engollon 24-19. Devonta would later go on to beat Hutanjia 26-12. The point is that anything can happen, so we shouldn't rule out a Cup victory. Either way, I've got my ticket and I'm sure most of you are going to watch it online or on The Rugby Channel, so make sure you're ready for an action-packed final to round off the second Alpen View Brew Festival Rugby Sevens. I know I am.

Also, I should point out that Lisander have won the Plate, beating Barunia 28-12 in a hard-fought game. And Nueva Andalusia managed to shake off their poor Pool performance and beat Savojarna 24-14 to take home the Bowl. So, in the event that we manage to beat Nova Anglicana, it would make it the first time (possibly ever) that all the silverware has been won by teams from the same group (in this case, Group D). Just a little tidbit for you guys to keep you guys excited for the final.

AVBF Rugby 7s #2 (Everything Thread)

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