Rugby Sevens World Cup 4 - Everything Thread

by **Alice Bay** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:27 am

Welcome to the Fourth Rugby Sevens World Cup! After one season when the World Series counted as World Cup, the main tournament of NationStates Rugby Sevens returns as the apotheosis of NSRB Rugby Season! This time, we'll have the ball running in the field of Dragons Park in the city of Newport, in the Commonwealth of Alice Bay. Alice Bay is currently the second force in Imperan Rugby, only behind Lisander.

Facts on Alicean Rugby (pocket version)

Rugby was brought to Alice Bay by Lisanderian and British Immigrants, in the early years of last century. While Australian Rules are more popular in the eastern districts and in the Bay proper, southern and western districts like Osea and Newport are strongholds of Rugby, both union and league. While the Rovers, the team from Osea, are the main force of the rugby in Alice Bay, and the current Rugby Union Champions Trophy, The team based in Newport, nicknamed Dragons, are the current Unions Cup Champions.

The Venue
Dragons Park is the Stadium of Newport Rugby Union, an 18,000 seat stadium.

If anyone is interested in using images in your roleplay, the image is from AMI Stadium (Rugby League Park), Christchurch, NZ.

Scorinating
Scorination, as usual, will use good old xkoranate, with most recent Rugby Sevens Rankings (after Watson’s Bay Sevens). Bonus, as usual, will be generous and assigned to quality over quantity. As a personal taste, good use of images and formatting is encouraged and will be treated as a differential in roleplay quality.

Format
The Sixteen teams will be drawn to four groups of four teams. The top two of each group advances to the Cup, the third-placed teams to the Plate and the fourth-placed teams to the bowl.

On the current Alicean timeline, the tournament will take place in an August weekend, but feel free to adjust it to your timeline as you wish. To give enough RP time to each nation, each round will span over a period of the day. A complete calendar with all matches will be presented and updated in the RP Topic.

Pool Stage

Pool A
Alice Bay
Hutanjia
Darmen
Copper Cuprum

Pool B
Elejamie
Nova Anglicana
Alpine Union
Main Nation Ministry

Pool C
Lisander
Neu Engollon
Savojarna
Mattijana

Pool D
Abanhfleft
Natanians and Nosts
Barunia
United States of Devonta

Calendar

MD1 (Aug 16) - Friday Morning
Alice Bay v Copper Cuprum  - 8h
Hutanjia v Darmen - 8h20
Elejamie v Main Nation Ministry - 8h40
Nova Anglicana v Alpine Union - 9h
Lisander v Mattijana - 9h20
Neu Engollon v Savojarna - 9h40
Abanhfleft v United States of Devonta - 10h
Natanians and Nosts v Barunia - 10h20

MD2 (Aug 17) - Friday Afternoon
Copper Cuprum v Darmen - 14h
Alice Bay v Hutanjia - 14h20
Main Nation Ministry v Alpine Union - 14h40
Elejamie v Nova Anglicana - 15h
Mattijana v Savojarna - 15h20
Lisander v Neu Engollon - 15h40
United States of Devonta v Barunia - 16h00
Abanhfleft v Natanians and Nosts - 16h20

MD3 (Aug 18) - Saturday Morning
Hutanjia v Copper Cuprum - 8h
Darmen v Alice Bay - 8h20
Nova Anglicana v Main Nation Ministry - 8h40
Alpine Union v Elejamie - 9h
Neu Engollon v Mattijana  - 9h20
Savojarna v Lisander - 9h40
Natanians and Nosts v United States of Devonta - 10h
Barunia v Abanhfleft - 10h20

MD4 (Aug 19) - Saturday Afternoon
Bowl SF1 - 14h
Bowl SF2 - 14h20
Plate SF1 - 14h40
Plate SF2 - 15h
Cup QF1  - 15h20
Cup QF2 - 15h40
Cup QF3 - 16h
Cup QF4 - 16h20

MD5 (Aug 20) - Sunday Morning
15th Place - 9h
11th Place - 9h20
7th Place - 9h40
5th Place - 10h
Cup SF1 - 10h20
Cup SF2 - 10h40

MD6 (Aug 21) - Sunday Afternoon
Bowl Final - 15h
Plate Final - 15h20
Bronze Match - 15h40
Cup Final - 16h

Event Sponsors
Should be up very soon.

by **Alice Bay** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:28 am

State of Alicean Rugby

Alice Bay Rugby is in a turmoil. The year of the elections for the board has started and people are discontent with the way the current board has been working. The national sevens team missed some events because ABRU decided to focus on the XV Internationals (just to lose again). A committee formed by members of some distrital unions (led by Osea and Newport) advanced by itself and secured the tournament, and with it, a place between the participants.

Vigorous measures were called for. More attention to districts. An administration that was not lost in inertia that was not only in the planning. Our primary goal is clear, yet selfish. Play again as equal against Lisander. We are not and can not be content to be the second force. We denounce this situation not only for political reasons. But by the fact that while Osea (current RUCT champion) and Newport (current national champion) are growing by sight, the union can not keep up. We could not let rugby in the rest of the nation languish. So we're going after ourselves.

Even without the approval of ABRU, the committee formed by the Unions of the districts of Newport, Osea, Swanlakes, Cap Navarre and Southland managed to bring the Sevens World Cup to Dragons Park, which is arguably our best stadium. And this is not a victory just for us, after all with this Alice Bay wins a place to attend the event. Even ABRU wins, and without any effort or expense.

I repeat, we are organizing the Cup without a single ABRU pound. Not to prove that we are better than the current board, but to reinforce that only with the work and dedication of everyone from the Mini to the XV International, the Alicean rugby returns to its rightful place, the top.

The Organizing Committee, Rugby Sevens World Cup.

Meanwhile, the board of ABRU decided not to comment on its "unfortunate decisions" was extremely bland in the roster presentation for the event. Once again, keeping the same team, thinking of "continuity".

Let's follow the hunt for our dream!

We thank the NSRB members who accepted Alice Bay's bid for the Sevens Rugby World Cup. It means a lot to our nation, it gets one more chance to evolve! Our best wishes are with the organizing committee, our dear partners from the Newport and Osea unions. We want them to do a good job and know that we are on hand to help with whatever is needed.

Our goal is to maintain continuity. The Alice Bay team follows the same team that participated in Watson's Bay Sevens, and we are very sure that we will go much further.

ROSTER

1. William Webber
2. Arthur Doyle
3. Aiden de Sanctis
4. Guillaume Salas
5. Mark Roos
6. Dante Segard
7. Jonathan Cape

8. Kevin Aldershot
9. Tassos Kymones
10. Howard Hinsburg
11. Scott Trenton
12. Adrian Schultz

Coach: Cyril Porteus

RP PERMISSIONS: No killing or injuring. Go wild with the rest. The roster has limited informations on purpose. In my timeline, ABRU and Districts Committee are having a "cold war".

by **Elejamie** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:10 am

Elejamian national rugby sevens team
Selección de rugby 7 de Elejamia
Elejam rubi 7 tim

Style Mod: 0 (as always)

Rugby is the third most popular sport in Elejamie, behind ice hockey and football (or soccer; American football is called "gridiron" and is considered a niche sport at best). Rugby union is the most popular form in Elejamie, with rugby league having a small but loyal fanbase. However, it wasn't until 2016 when there finally was an officially sanctioned rugby sevens tournament was announced: The ERC 7s, which begins on the fourth Friday of August and lasts for three days. Simply put, all twelve teams in that season's ERC (Elejamian Rugby Championship) are divided into two groups of six and play a single round robin tournament to see whether they'll play for the Cup, the Plate or the Bowl. The first group's games are played on the Friday, the second group's games are played on the following Saturday and the semi-finals, 3PPOs and Cup/Plate/Bowl finals are played on Sunday afternoon/evening. The second tournament in Edgebaston saw the Murgon Bullfrogs shut out the Coventry Wyverns 12-0, thanks to two tries from Adam McCracken. The Plate saw the Avon Knights crush both their opponents (44-0 against the Elejamie City Eagles in the semi-final and 41-6 against the Auckhampton Birch Trees in the final), whereas the Iceland Panthers beat the newly-promoted Mainsborough Delphi 19-11 to take home the Bowl. The third edition of the tournament will be held in Rosetta, at the Rosate Rubihus (the home ground for the Rosetta Sparrows) and Nantwich Park Stadium (home of Rosetta FC).

This tournament will also be the last international tournament for winger/fullback Mical Caerofim before he retires from the Elejamie squad, although he'll be playing one last season with the Coventry Wyverns before retiring from rugby in general.

Coach: Aaron Kim
Vice coach: Kevin Gabriel
Captain: Diego Molina
Vice-captain: David Kramer

Forwards

No.	Name			Age	Position	Club
1	Marcus Ruiz		30	P		Coventry Wyverns
2	Mike Decker		33	P		Avon Knights
4	Diego Molina 		27	H		Auckhampton Birch Trees

Backs

No.	Name			Age	Position	Club
3	David Kramer		32	SH		Auckhampton Birch Trees
5	Gary Toda		29	FH		Davenport Commandos
6	Paul Koppel		23	C		Iceland Panthers
7	Mical Caerofim		34	W/FB		Coventry Wyverns

Subs

No.	Name			Age	Position	Club
8	Riley Kroger		25	P		Avon Knights
9	Tom Correy		32	P/H		Davenport Commandos
10	Tim Crespin		24	SH/FH		Edgebaston Warriors
11	Patrick Hayden		29	C		Elejamie City Eagles
12	Adam McCracken		29	W/FB		Murgon Bullfrogs

P - Prop
H - Hooker
SH - Scrum half
FH - Fly-half
C - Centre
W/FB - Winger/Fullback

by **Darmen** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:27 am

Darmen National Men's Rugby Sevens Team

Head Coach: Arn Bonnay (50)

#  Pos Name                 Age NRC Franchise
 1 LP  Tranter Evelyn       27  Southwestern Blue Tigers
 2 HK  Bruce Schubert       32  Menomonie RFU
 3 TP  Sly Townsend         18  Northwestern RFU
 4 SH  Cyrille McNab        34  CFR United Cotdelapomais
 5 FH  Hirsh Halloran       27  Southwestern Blue Tigers
 6 C   Stian Ellis          26  East Coast Black Knights
 7 W   Fiete Giles          27  Metropolitan RFU

 8 P   Calum Ó hEidirsceóil 19  Johnho RFU
 9 SH  Rupert Davies        23  Brham Titans
10 FH  Gladwin Schreier     18  Menomonie RFU
11 C   Connell Alfredson    23  Springfield RFU
12 W   Gonzalo Hafner       22  Rogerton Blues

RP Permissions: No killing or other serious life altering events, otherwise have fun!

by **NS Rugby Board Executive Council** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 10:07 am

NEU ENGOLLON
NATIONAL RUGBY SEVENS SQUAD
'THE GOATS'
Posted by Elejamie on behalf of Neu Engollon, who has given me permission to post this on his behalf.

Coach: Rolf Mertzen
Assistant Coach: Jean Semmes
Trainer: Antonia Pfelger

Starters
Loosehead Prop - Guillaume Venmont (Telleursville Gargoyles)
Hooker - Andino Paticci (San Remo Ospreys)
Tighthead Prop - Conrad Gemmel (Ludenthal Wolves)

Scrum Half - Felix Marten (Torino Terrors)
Fly Half - Giannaro Caravolo (Panoli Dockers)
Centre - Johann Dorff (Burgunden Brawlers)
Winger - Hugo Koernsoff (Schwartzgarten Warriors)

Reserves
Forwards:
Rudi Marcoux (Ciavno Alpenhawks)
Henri Eichel (Schwartzgarten Warriors)
Carmine Narpaccia (Ludenthal Wolves)

Backs:
Denis Renaud (Burgunden Brawlers)
Primo Serrofino (Konstanz Owls)
Dietrich Carametti (Telleursville Gargoyles)

RP Permissions:

Should my opponent RPs first, he/she may do the following:
Choose my scorers: Y
Godmod scoring events: Y
RP injuries to my players: Y
Godmod injuries to my players: N
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Y
Hand out red cards to my players: TG me first
Godmod other events: TG me first

by **Union of Socialist Alpine Republics** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 10:14 am

Alpine Union National Rugby Team

Reprezentacja Alpejski w Rugby

Selección de rugby de Unión Alpina

Équipe d'Union Alpine de Rugby

Alpischen Rugby Nationalgemischtschaft

Sgioba Nàiseanta Rugbaidh na Ailpeach Aonadh

Full nation name: Union of Socialist Alpine Republics
Short nation name: Alpine Union, U.S.A.R.
Trigramme: UAR
Demonym: Alpine
Nicknames: Alpines, Bisons, Reprezentacja Alpejski, Green & red
Team Colors: Green and red
Style modifier: -1

Designed by Valls Rugby from Lisander

Schedule:

Friday Morning @ 9:00 - Nova Anglicana v Alpine Union
Friday Afternoon @ 14:40 - Main Nation Ministry v Alpine Union
Saturday Morning @ 9:00 - Alpine Union v Elejamie

Staff:
Head Coach: Maolmuire GilleChrìost
Assistant Coach: Wlodzimierz Szabakiewicz
Assistant Coach: Eilidh Nic Maoláin
Captain: Philipp Schweinsteiger

Num     Pos     Name                    Age     Club                            Birthplace
1	Prop	Nicola Lazzaroni	28	Benedetto Rugby 	        Porto Santa Margherita, AC
2	Hooker	Luke Chisholm	        27	Mariot's Rugby Club	        Holybourne, BR
3	Prop	Krzysztof Szerszenowicz	28	Waddington Athletic Club RFC	Szczawnica, WP
4	Scr Half Philipp Schweinsteiger	34	Roxburgh Rugby	                Mönchenholzhausen, AM
5	Fly Half Serge Dusautoir	31	Stade tournubertais	        Soulac-sur-Mer, AQ
6	Center	Jack Banahan	        30	Roxburgh Rugby	                Monkton Wyld, BR
7	Winger	Alasdair MacIlleMhìcheil 31	Roxburgh Rugby	                Roxburgh, CD
					
8	Prop	Ogilhinn Flimean	30	Linlithgow Warriors	        Stronachlachar, CD
9	H/P	Fryderyka Kozlowska	26	Budowlani Ozorkow	        Niedzwiedzica, WP
10	Half    Fiona Nic Leoid	        25	Mariot's Rugby Club	        Glengarnock, CD
11	Half/C	Raghallaigh Ó Conghalaigh 29	Castletown-Bearhaven Rugby	Creggaballagh, HY
12	Winger	Finn MacArthur	        28	Linlithgow Warriors	        Dail an Leigh Dalelia, CD

AC: Amalfi Coast
AM: Alsace-Mecklenburg
AQ: Aquitaine-Languedoc
BR: Britannia
CD: Caledonia
HY: Hybernia
WP: Wschodnioprusy (Prussia East)

I Give My Opponent Permission To:
=================================
Choose My scorers: Yes
Godmod scoring Events: Yes
Injure Players: Yes
Godmod Injury Events: No
Red Card Players: Yes
Yellow Card Players: Yes
Godmod Other Events: Yes
=================================

by **NS Rugby Board Executive Council** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 10:19 am

HUTANJIAN NATIONAL RUGBY SEVENS SQUAD 'The SPIDERS'

Posted by Elejamie on behalf of Neu Engollon (as Hutanjia's his puppet), who has given me permission to post this on his behalf.

by **Natanians and Nosts** » Wed Aug 15, 2018 7:59 pm

#Name-Age-Position
3Ion Victor César-26-fullback
5Cáius Cláudius Numídio-24-centre
8Ion Carolus Mihailescu-22-flyhalf
7Lucas Lúcius North-25-scrumhalf
10Gabriel Mihai Ognek-21-hooker
9Logan Márcus Hûs-23-left prop
11Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos-18-right prop

Capitain's name is in blue

Bench:

#-Name-age-position
4-Bruno Iohannis da Silva-29-fullback/centre
13-João Rog dos Santos-19-centre
20-Astrogildo Hermenegildo Mačekvić-20-flyhalf/scrumhalf
21-Willelm Uêin Rúca-22-Hooker
23-Guillaume Numa Bijelo-25-prop/hooker

Should my opponent RPs first, he/she may do the following:
Choose my scorers: No
godmod scoring events: Yes
RP injuries to my players: No
godmod injuries to my players: No
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Yes
Hand out red cards to my players: Yes(only one per match)
godmod other events: No

by **Elejamie** » Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:31 pm

Crunch Time: Dave Carrey's Quick Guide to Another Pool B
Dave Carrey - Newport, Alice Bay

We've finally reached the end. After four hard-fought competitions, which would've been five had the Freedom 7s not been cancelled, we finally made it to the big tournament. The Rugby Sevens World Cup, which finally made a return to the calendar after so many years, albeit with a new lick of paint. Unlike the first three tournaments, the top 16 teams at the end of the Series automatically qualify for a spot in the R7WC, though we've had to have a few replacements (including the host Alice Bay) to replace teams that dropped out for one reason or another. And we head into the tournament as the minor premiership winners, having finished top of the table with 58 points, seven points ahead of our biggest rival Lisander. While we may be the URSA Sevens winners and minor premiership winners, we're hoping that we can finally get the big one.

But before we get onto that, let's recap our time in Watson's Bay. We had a bye for the first game, which we thought would give us the boost we needed to get a good opening win, only to lose 26-12 to Nova Anglicana in our first game, which was a total disappointment. Fortunately, we bounced back with a 33-7 win over Savojarna, a 38-7 demolition of Qasden and a 31-7 win over North Prarie to finish second in our group, just behind Nova Anglicana on point difference (though not by that much, with them having a PD of +68 and us having a PD of +67); Savojarna also finished with a 3-0-1 record but had to play for the plate thanks to a PD of +42. After a 33-19 win over Hutanjia in the Cup quarter finals, which was swiftly followed by a hard-fought yet well-deserved 21-17 win in our rematch against Nova Anglicana, we were up against our old rivals Lisander in a repeat of our bout at the AVBF Sevens at the start of the Series. And, much like the AVBF Sevens, Lisander won again, though it wasn't as close thanks to their 26-12 win. Kind of poetic when you think about it. Either way, as previously mentioned, we had that unassailable lead going into the semis so we still would've finished first in the table regardless of where we finished.

Mical Caerofim, who'll be retiring from rugby at the
end of next season. Take care, bud.

But that was last time. There we had already qualified but we wanted to make sure we were in a good position. Maybe take the minor premiership home if we had qualified for the Cup. Here, there's no messing around, no points will be given out depending on where each team finishes. Every match matters because whoever lifts that trophy will win the inaugural NSRB Sevens Series outright. Sort of like the Royal Inaetar Cup in the ENIHL or a much larger version of the ERC play-offs with more teams. Fortunately, I explained a good chunk of the Rugby Sevens World Cup here, which I'll link to at the end, so I won't need to repeat myself more than I already need to. The only thing I will say that's new is that, looking at the groups, I think we'll be in for a ride. Let's get started.

So who will we be up against on the Friday morning to kick things off? The Main Nation Ministry, believe it or not. A team that was just lucky to make it this far thanks to their excellent placing in Savojarna, where their third place finish (losing 24-19 to eventual champions Barunia in the Savojar People's Trophy semi-finals but winning their third-placed play-off game against the hosts 31-26) gave them 14 points, which was just enough points to overtake Racao, Bvriania and Mattijana (the latter of whom will be taking part in the tournament). Unfortunately, that was their sole tournament in the Sevens Series, as they were absent from the AVBF Sevens, URSA Sevens and the Watson's Bay 7s. Still an impressive mark to make and it just makes you wonder what they would've been like had they played all four tournaments.

In the afternoon, we'll have Nova Anglicana. Yes, them again. Another rival during our group stage games, the Nova Anglicans did very well in the Series in general, finishing in fifth place in the table with 31 points in total. They had a very strong start in the AVBF Sevens, sweeping group A and comfortably beating Frenline Delpha 24-10 before losing 26-14 to eventual champs Lisander; though there was no third place playoff game that tournament, Nova Anglicana got the 14 points, presumably because they scored more points or because of a better margin of defeat. After missing out on the URSA Sevens, they returned for the Savojar Sevens, where they didn't do as well. There, they finished third in their group with a 1-1-1 record, meaning they'd have to play for the Sjoedrhavn Shield; however, a 24-19 loss to Darmen meant they could only scrape four points in total from the tournament. They showed a massive improvement in Watson's Bay, however, where they finished top of our group and grabbed a comfortable 26-12 win over the Kiaser Colonies (who were hosting) in the Cup quarter-finals, before losing 21-17 to us in the semi-finals and losing 26-17 to Abanhfleft in the 3PPO. They're definitely going to be a tough side and, indeed, will be our biggest rivals, so we should keep out eyes open when we play them.

And, finally after a good evening and a good night's rest, we have the Alpine Union on Saturday morning. They're also not a bad side, even scoring a win against us in the URSA Sevens, culminating in a 12th place spot with 23 points. In the AVBF Sevens they finished fourth in their group with a 2-1-2 record (including a 24-14 defeat to us), meaning they had to play for the Plate; though they grabbed a 26-19 win over Devonta in the quarter-finals, a very narrow 19-17 defeat to Hutanjia put an end to any dreams of getting silverware, though they did scrape six points out of the tournament. They got their second set of six in the URSA Sevens, having finished in third place with a 3-1-1 record and, as a result, would have to play for the Plate. And, despite the official site telling you otherwise, the Alpine Union actually won their plate quarter-final game against Alice Bay 31-12 instead of the other way round; however, they didn't win their semi-final against Neu Engollon, as the Goats won that 26-14. However, they really shone in the Savojar Sevens, where a second place finish in Group C (also with a 1-1-1 record) meant they'd have to play a qualifying quarter-final against Northwest Kalactin to see which trophy they'd be playing for. A 20-12 win meant they'd be playing for the Savojar People's Trophy, though a 12-5 defeat to the hosts meant it was a non-starter. They didn't show up to the Watson's Bay Sevens, though fortunately by then they had already qualified so it wasn't too big a deal.

Eduardo Carreras, former Universidad de Valledorado
and current Auckhampton Birch Trees player, who's
rumoured to be joining the sevens squad in the new
Series.

So where do I think we'll end up? Second's the more likely option due to the almighty Nova Anglicana squad. However, there's also the likely chance that we'll end up in the top spot instead, though I'm not really betting on it. I'm not discounting it, I'm just saying we're more than likely going to play second fiddle to Nova Anglicana. The Alpine Union will take third place and quite possibly the Plate. And while the Main Nation Ministry could potentially pull off another shock and repeat their performance at the Savojarna Sevens, I doubt that's going to happen when they're up against such strong opposition and they'll finish in dead last place, though maybe they'll scrape a draw or even a win should they be lucky.

As previously mentioned, there are 16 teams in the tournament, which means that my brief mentionings of the other pools will be a lot briefer than expected. Fortunately, I have a list of where everyone came in the Series table, so I've got more stuff to put in. And let's begin with Pool A, where we have the hosts Alice Bay (who finished joint last withsole point came from the Plate QF exit, only qualifying to replace Frenline Delpha who dropped out), Hutanjia (who finished in fourth place with 38 points, helped by their semi-final Cup appearance in Soria), Darmen (who finished in joint 9th place with 24 points) and Copper Cuprum (the rubber chicken decapitators who finished 15th with 18 points). Pool D is fairly decent as well, with Series table bronze medallists Abanhfleft (39 points) having to face the Natanians and Nosts (joint 9th with 24 points, with 8 points in everything but the Savojar Sevens), reigning Rugby [union] World Cup champions Barunia (14th place with 21 points) and the United States of Devonta, who didn't originally qualify thanks to them coming in 21st with 7 points but only made it through as a replacement. But Pool C seems to be the Pool of Death as it has Series table runners-up Lisander (51 points), all-code powerhouse Neu Engollon (joint 7th with 27 points), up-and-comers Savojarna (13th place with 22 points, thanks to their amazing performance at home) and the moderately decent Mattijana, who also didn't originally qualify as they came 19th with 9 points but made it through as a replacement. Yes, it's a star-studded tournament and we should be getting plenty of thrilling games.

What else do I need to add? Oh yes, that. I'm sure you're all aware that Mical Caerofim, the fullback and occasional winger for the Coventry Wyverns, will be retiring soon. Indeed, he said that this will be his last international tournament, which means that there'll be plenty of rumours on who'd be replacing him. Eduardo Carreras, who not only played for the Universidad de Valledora squad but got swooped up by the Auckhampton Birch Trees just a few days ago, is rumoured to be the new replacement on the squad, although there are other rumours that Terry Huang, Adam Gates or even Diego Peguero could take either #7 or #12 instead. Anything else? Yes, due to the test game between the two nations being cancelled a few months ago for unknown reasons, should Elejamie and Lisander face off against each other this season it'll be the first time the Tillman Trophy gets handed out. But apart from that I've got nothing. So let's all sit back and watch some quality rugby sevens action. Hopefully not through covered eyes.

More from Dave Carrey:

Dave's Blog: Alice Bae (Sorry)

Dave Carrey's Guide to the 2018 ERC 7s

What is the Rugby Sevens World Cup?

Sevens Series: Potential Overhauls for Next Season

by **Savojarna** » Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:48 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
Rugby Sevens World Cup: The Quick Guide to Savojarna

Savojarna's rugby culture is relatively young, even though similar games have been played in the nation since the middle ages. Mediaeval football games were very popular in Savojarna and looked probably more like today's rugby, often ending in a vicious brawl. In fact, it was so bad that the authorities had executed a total of 9 men in 1241 for playing a football match carrying swords, which apparently did not remain unused. In later times, Savojar warriors enjoyed a game that is seen by Savojars as the direct predecessor to rugby, and was often also played with blunt weapons as it was seen as a preparation for battle. Many of the traditions from this game carried over to rugby.

Sevens and Union are the two most popular codes in Savojarna, with League almost unheard of. The Savojar league is conducted in Rugby Union, and it consists of 14 teams playing each other twice. Between the seasons, there is a prestigious series of Rugby Sevens tournaments, the so called Triple S (Savojar Sevens Series). The Triple S consists of the eight best teams of the Savojar Rugby Serien ranking, which is conducted over the last three years, referred to as the Triple S Class. They are automatically invited to all four Triple S tournaments, traditionally played in Storevik, Savojagrad, Virkaja and Thorsborg. Each tournament also invites four more teams (not necessarily the same four), and the tournaments are played in groups of 6 followed by a semifinal and a final. After the four tournaments, the six best teams are invited to Sjoedrhavn for the Triple S Final Tournament. There, they play a play-off for the title of Rugby Sevens Champion of Savojarna.

SQUAD
Coach: Ragnar Mikkelsen
Assistant coach: Erik Sjöström
Medical staff: Dr. Valentin Myshkin, Dr. Filip Johansson, Petter Nydberg, Anna Carlsson
Further staff: Petra Aaltonen, Victor Sanden, Mikhail Yovarenko, Olaf Grygg

Style: -1

STARTING VII
#1 Valeri Kravchuk (24, Pawlograd)
#2 Simon Hjalmarsson (30, Landsmark)
#3 Jacob Bengtsson (32, Linder)
#4 Alexander Newarov (25, St. Andrei)
#5 Kristjan Niskanen (28, Virkaja)
#6 Fridtjof Lindberg (21, Thorsborg)
#7 Rolf Eythorsson (22, Storevik, Wing)

RESERVES
#8 Grigori Smichov (27, Pawlograd, Prop)
#9 Aksel Johanson (26, Thorsborg, Scrum-half)
#10 Jesper Groen (33, Sjoedrhavn, Hooker)
#11 Mika Ranttanen (19, Virkaja, Centre)
#12 Harald Akeson (31, Nordrvik, Wing)

KITS

RP PERMISSIONS

Should my opponent RPs first, he/she may do the following:
Choose my scorers: Y
Godmod scoring events: N
RP injuries to my players: Y (if it is serious, TG me and wait for approval)
Godmod injuries to my players: N
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Y
Hand out red cards to my players: Y (no more than one)
Godmod other events: N

A note about godmodding: Everything that could happen under real world physics and rules, but is unlikely is fair game. So, if you want to RP someone kicked a ball across the whole pitch to score, do it, even if that is possibly a godmod (and probably not "possible" under RL physics and RL humans, but not completely unimaginable if you have exceptionally strong players I guess. If you do stuff that is impossible though - magic etc. - that is not okay.
Second note regarding violence: Feel free to stage a fight between Savojars and your people (be it fans or players) if you want. However, Savojarna has an incredibly strong warrior culture and always honoured fighters, so expect to get a bloody nose or two. Also, along with this culture comes a strong sense of honours and ethics in a fight. In Savojarna, it is regarded as extremely bad form and a strong sign of cowardness to hurt a person who is visibly beaten or does not want to fight. This means that you are free to brawl with Savojars, but please do not have any Savojars attacking innocents or engaging in group violence against people laying on the ground. We do not do that. Also, we don't hit people from behind if we are not in a fight already. Getting behind an opponent is a sign of bad skill on their part and a it's fair move to use in a fight. Getting behind an unsuspecting person and sucker punching them from behind is a move for cowards who don't dare to confront their opponent face to face.

by **Lisander** » Thu Aug 16, 2018 12:41 pm

Irises Sevens - Info

Modifier: +4

LISANDER RUGBY UNION - Periodic Report

The third season of Lisanderian Rugby "ten seasons plan" is a crucial moment. We reached all of our planned goals, and currently we are one of the powerhouses of the world in the sport.

Irises, the main national XV, comes from an excellent Rugby Union World Cup. Despite an unusual 0-25 against Ko-oren, Lisander finished in third place, defeating Nova Anglicana in the Bronze Match. After two World Cups, our efforts has been awarded a position in Top 10 of Rugby à XV. We're currently the sixth-placed nation in NSRB Rankings, just a little behind Neu Engollon and Abanhfleft. We are also working in partnership with Andreas Sauer estate to turn the traditional Barbarians a international competitive side, whether is unclear if the BaaBaas will be national or international.

Club Rugby is the current long-term priority of Lisander Rugby Union. Since the inception of Dwile International Tournament and the return of Rugby Union Champions Trophy, six lisanderian teams have represented the nation in international competitions: Saracens (5th), Harlequins (15th), Despina Crusaders (17th), Victorian Rugby (23rd), The Wasps (24th) and Pines Athletic (29th). The best result was in the last event, where Saracens reached the final. Due to the balance between the teams in technical terms, and considering Lisander two National Championships as opportunities for more teams to reach international play, Lisander currently don't have club titles on sight, but in wide context, we can celebrate a fourth place on Association Rankings.

Lisander is currently the first in Rugby Sevens Ranking. The titles in Watson's Bay and Neu Engollon and the good performance in Savojarna skyrocketed Irises in the NSRB Sevens Rankings. This is a clear proof of the improvement of the team in the Sevens code. Our next goals in Rugby Sevens are the World Cup title and an Olympic Medal.

The Lisander Rugby Union uniforms for the season 26 are made by Valls Rugby. Contrary to what was believed, Valls didn't produce new Uniforms for Sevens, not for this tournament. Irises Sevens are using Irises RWC26 Uniforms.

#	Name			Pos
1	Gaetan Latta (C)	Prop
2	Baltasar Boján		Prop
3	James Madeira		Scrum-Half
4	Miguel Novinski		Hooker
5	Eran Lasses		Fly-Half
6	Eden Stadler		Center
7	Guilherme Roux		Wing

8	Oliver Bussière		Prop
9	Ricardo Manning		Prop
10	Alex Rosso		Scrum-Half
11	Matias Baudelaire	Fly-Half/Center
12	Vicente Delacroix	Fullback

STAFF
Coach: Gaetan Morian
Assistant Coach: Julian Monteiro
Team Doctor: Guillaume Germain
Apparel Manager: Filipe Wurz
*Italics denote International Debut. Julian Monteiro was in the pre-selected list of players, but in the end he accepted to act as an assistant coach.

LRU Main Sponsor

by **Alice Bay** » Thu Aug 16, 2018 2:40 pm

Friday Morning matches
In this era of new rugby powerhouses rising, will you keep strong or fade away?

Pool A
Alice Bay 14–26 Copper Cuprum
Hutanjia 14–26 Darmen

Pool A                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Copper Cuprum              1   1  0  0   26  14 +12    4
  Darmen                     1   1  0  0   26  14 +12    4
3 Alice Bay                  1   0  0  1   14  26 −12    0
  Hutanjia                   1   0  0  1   14  26 −12    0

Pool B
Elejamie 26–12 Main Nation Ministry
Nova Anglicana 36–12 Alpine Union

Pool B                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana             1   1  0  0   36  12 +24    4
2 Elejamie                   1   1  0  0   26  12 +14    4
3 Main Nation Ministry       1   0  0  1   12  26 −14    0
4 Alpine Union               1   0  0  1   12  36 −24    0

Pool C
Lisander 36–0 Mattijana
Neu Engollon 17–21 Savojarna

Pool C                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Lisander                   1   1  0  0   36   0 +36    4
2 Savojarna                  1   1  0  0   21  17  +4    4
3 Neu Engollon               1   0  0  1   17  21  −4    0
4 Mattijana                  1   0  0  1    0  36 −36    0

Pool D
Abanhfleft 36–5 United States of Devonta
Natanians and Nosts 24–12 Barunia

Pool D                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Abanhfleft                 1   1  0  0   36   5 +31    4
2 Natanians and Nosts        1   1  0  0   24  12 +12    4
3 Barunia                    1   0  0  1   12  24 −12    0
4 United States of Devonta   1   0  0  1    5  36 −31    0

by **Natanians and Nosts** » Thu Aug 16, 2018 7:42 pm

Natanians and Nosts defeated Barunia by 24x12.The game was hard-fought,but we managed to win.Let's see our scores:
-2':Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos intercepts the ball,he runs,passes by one...and by another,he only has two in his way;he drops the ball,he kicks it...and he scores!!!!Droooopppppppp goooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllll for Natanians and Nosts!Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos scores a great drop goal for Natanians and Nosts,diminishing our disadvantage to 9.
-3':...And he will score a try for Barunia,...but he's tackled!Ion Victor César saves Natanians and Nosts,Lucas Lúcius North gets the ball from the resulting ruck.He sprints,shortly.He kicks the ball.Ion Carolus Mihailescu runs really fastly to get it...he gets it a little after the Natanians and Nost 10-metres line;he caught it and evades the Barunian centre,he sprints more,a Barunian comes close to him,he decides to kick...the ball goes onto...and through the posts!Another drop gooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaallllll!Ion Carolus Mihailescu makes it Natanians and Nosts 6x12 Barunia.
-5':Lucas Lúcius North will kick the penalty from approximately 35 metres,he's in a moderately difficult position.He "shoots" and he scores!Lucas Lúcius North scored our ninth point,from a penalty!
-6':Gabriel Mihai Ognek recovers the ball at the midfiled-line.He runs and passes to Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos,he's tackled but manages to pass to Logan Márcus Hûs before falling.Logan Márcus Hûs runs,a Barunian attempts to tackle him,but he escapes.He passes by one,but the second tackled him!Gabriel Mihai Ognek rcovers the ball,he fastly and smartly passes to Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos,who's behind him.Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos has the ball now,he drop kicks the ball...and it's one more drrrroooooooooopppp gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllll!Another one for Natanians and Nosts!He ties the game!Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos.Natanians and Nosts 12x12 Barunia!
6'30":Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos legally receives the kick,he keeps sprinting.A Barunian player takcles him,a ruck begins to form.Natanians and Nosts has a clear advantage,but it is Barunia who ultimately gains the possession.The Barunian centre receives the ball,but oh no!It was a knock-on.The referee calls the TMO for confirmation...and it indeed was;scrum for Natanians and Nosts.The referee instructs the players,Lucas Lúcius North feeds it.Natanians and Nosts pushes it...they've won five metres.Lucas Lúcius Norh receives the ball and sprints,there was a tackle attempt at him,but he passes;Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos gets the ball,surprising the Barunian deffence,but they reorganised quite quickly.Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos prepares to kick,and so he does.And it's another drop gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaal for Natanians and Nosts;who are leading for the first time in the match,albeit the Barunians are not making this task so easy.
3' s.p.-Gabriel Mihai Ognek receives a great pass from Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos.He is tackled by a centre but he himself recovers the ball,he runs into the Barunian in-goal,he makes a drop kick,and it's one more drop goal for Natanians and Nosts.
5' s.p.-Gabriel Mihai Ognek has the ball,he passes it to Kaeso Ninnio dos Santos.He passes it to Lucas Lúcius North,whom smartly passes to Logan Márcus Hûs who runs...he passes by the centre,he decides to kick...and one more drop goal for Natanians and Nosts.
6' s.p.-Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos was tackled near the middle of the field.He recovers the ball,the Barunian player tries to catch him again,but fails.He runs fastly to the Barunians goal,a Barunian player goes into him,he tries to tackle him,but misses him.Another Barunian tries and effectively tackles him,he keeps the possession for Natanians and Nosts.He runs,he runs fastlu,he drop kicks...and he scores!One more drop goal for Natanians and Nosts!Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos scores once again.Natanians and Nosts 24x12 Barunia!

works? · by **Abanhfleft** » Thu Aug 16, 2018 9:31 pm

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ABANHFLEFT
National rugby sevens team

This will be the first time that Abanhfleft will be participating in the Rugby Sevens World Cup, which is currently in its fourth edition. Rugby sevens is, quite frankly, a fringe sport in the Democratic Republic, with most of its players being either rugby union or rugby league players in their professional careers. However, the country simply couldn't resist the temptation to go for some sporting silverware, and therefore the rugby sevens national team that was assembled and sent to Londinium in Nova Anglicana for yet another shot at glory is now back and in Alice Bay for more glory, and this time they want something very shiny!

BASIC INFORMATION
Name of nation: Democratic Republic of Abanhfleft
Demonym: Fleftic
Official history: This will be the first time that Abanhfleft will be participating in an international rugby sevens tournament.
Team colors: Blue, orange, and green
Style modifier: +3. Offense will be the team's focus.

STARTING SEVEN
Key: Number, name, position, age
#1 Adam Jaden Sforza (Left prop, 28, captain)
#2 Julio Ortega (Right prop, 30)
#3 Abdulrahman al-Thabsi (Scrum half, 29)
#4 John Borisov (Hooker, 30)
#5 Marouane Mahout (Fly half, 25)
#6 Dixon Cochabamba (Center, 31)
#7 Paul Partridge (Fullback, 28)

RESERVES

#8 Rupert Dearth (24)
#9 Mile Foreman (26)
#10 Justiniano Reid (26)
#11 Emery Schmoll (23)
#12 Moritz Zilner (26)
#13 Radomir Rakitic (27)
#14 Ken Greathouse (22)
#15 Bradley Votaw (Utility player, 22)

RP PERMISSIONS
Anything except killing my players is fair game. But if you've got something crazy in the works, do drop a TG and let's talk about it.

by **Copper Cuprum** » Thu Aug 16, 2018 9:34 pm

THE CHIEFDOM OF COPPER CUPRUM
NATIONAL RUGBY SEVENS TEAM

This is the first time that Copper Cuprum will be participating in an international rugby sevens competition, as well as the Rugby Sevens World Cup. Rugby is the most popular sport in Copper Cuprum, and although rugby league is the more popular code in the Chiefdom, both rugby union and rugby sevens still have a decent following. Copper Cuprum had been long isolated from the international community since it is a small island archipelago located deep in the middle of the Lazarus Ocean, far from any regular shipping lanes since man first sailed ships. The nation was only discovered by the Fleftic Navy in 1914, when they were searching for the daughter of President Rufus Wole Mensah, whose ship was wrecked in the general vicinity of the islands. Arriving in the capital of the islands, they discovered that Chief Zed had made the President's daughter his queen, generating a sudden alliance between the two countries. And Copper Cuprum was also rich in copper, so that was a good thing for Abanhfleft too...

BASIC INFORMATION
Name of nation: The Chiefdom of Copper Cuprum
Demonym: Copperite
Kits: Initially, the Copperite national rugby sevens team was not supposed to wear any kits as ordinary people know them. Instead they would have played wearing only white loincloths and nothing else. However, in the interests of modesty and compliance with the international standard, the Copperite team has elected to choose a new uniform with alternating black and white hoops and black shorts.
Team colors: Black and white
Style modifier: +1.00 (A balanced team with a slight focus on offense)
Head coach: Count Tumale Boweba (47 y/o, Copper Cuprum)
Notes: It is Copperite tradition to slit the throat of a live chicken before a game and then spread the spilled blood on the field. However, after the Valladar authorities advised the Copperite Football Federation against performing this tradition after local audiences were shocked by this tradition, it has been decided that in place of this tradition, Copperite players will now cut off the head of a rubber chicken before a game and then toss the head around like a hot potato. However, Copperite players will now perform the chicken sacrificing ritual whether or not the other team (or the event organizers for that matter) likes it. The Copperites hope to turn this tradition into their version of the haka.

STARTING SEVEN
Key: Number, name (in boldface), position, age
#1 Mabuda Oweda (Left prop, 25)
#2 Homeka Omega (Right prop, 24)
#3 Tabuta Isoka (Scrum half, 26)
#4 Satusa Heyedy (Hooker, 25)
#5 Banunu Honele (Fly half, 30, captain)
#6 Irakta Kasugna (Center, 21)
#7 Vobeda Polema (Fullback, 24)

RESERVES
#8 Isama Ubedo (21)
#9 Horneba Bowekta (29)
#10 Isali Umatu (24)
#11 Botero Ismakta (30)
#12 Ismail Govore (28)
#13 Fenoktu Gefora (27)
#14 Chorode Hizekte (24)
#15 Hiram Massoudoglu (23, Utility player)

HOME STADIUM: FIRST COPPERITE BANK STADIUM

First Copperite Bank Stadium (capacity 50,000) is the Copperite national rugby union and rugby sevens team's home stadium. Located in Wa Deg, the capital of Copper Cuprum, it is also the home ground of the Wa Deg Giants of the Copperite Rugby League, Wa Deg Carabiners of the Rugby Coalition and Wa Gon Giants A.F.C. of Copperite League Two.

RP PERMISSIONS
Anything except killing is fair game.

by **Alice Bay** » Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:59 pm

Friday Afternoon matches
Just more one minute before the end of the Friday night in my time zone, and this is our cutoff. I'd prefer to go night swimming with my girlfriend.

Pool A
Copper Cuprum 28–21 Darmen
Alice Bay 12–40 Hutanjia

Pool A                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Copper Cuprum              2   2  0  0   54  35 +19    8
2 Hutanjia                   2   1  0  1   54  38 +16    4
3 Darmen                     2   1  0  1   47  42  +5    4
4 Alice Bay                  2   0  0  2   26  66 −40    0

Pool B
Main Nation Ministry 7–34 Alpine Union
Elejamie 26–12 Nova Anglicana

Pool B                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Elejamie                   2   2  0  0   52  24 +28    8
2 Nova Anglicana             2   1  0  1   48  38 +10    4
3 Alpine Union               2   1  0  1   46  43  +3    4
4 Main Nation Ministry       2   0  0  2   19  60 −41    0

Pool C
Mattijana 31–17 Savojarna
Lisander 24–12 Neu Engollon

Pool C                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Lisander                   2   2  0  0   60  12 +48    8
2 Savojarna                  2   1  0  1   38  48 −10    4
3 Mattijana                  2   1  0  1   31  53 −22    4
4 Neu Engollon               2   0  0  2   29  45 −16    0

Pool D
United States of Devonta 12–24 Barunia
Abanhfleft 12–31 Natanians and Nosts

Pool D                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Natanians and Nosts        2   2  0  0   55  24 +31    8
2 Abanhfleft                 2   1  0  1   48  36 +12    4
3 Barunia                    2   1  0  1   36  36   0    4
4 United States of Devonta   2   0  0  2   17  60 −43    0

by **Alice Bay** » Sat Aug 18, 2018 6:46 pm

Saturday Morning matches
The end of Pool Stage comes. I also want you to know that I'm postponing the next cutoff to Monday, 15h GMT. I want to enjoy the silence this Sunday. And you'll have more time to RP.

Pool A
Hutanjia 29–7 Copper Cuprum
Darmen 24–12 Alice Bay

Pool A                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Hutanjia                   3   2  0  1   83  45 +38    8
2 Darmen                     3   2  0  1   71  54 +17    8
3 Copper Cuprum              3   2  0  1   61  64  −3    8
4 Alice Bay                  3   0  0  3   38  90 −52    0

Pool B
Nova Anglicana 35–14 Main Nation Ministry
Alpine Union 24–21 Elejamie

Pool B                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana             3   2  0  1   83  52 +31    8
2 Elejamie                   3   2  0  1   73  48 +25    8
3 Alpine Union               3   2  0  1   70  64  +6    8
4 Main Nation Ministry       3   0  0  3   33  95 −62    0

Pool C
Neu Engollon 29–7 Mattijana
Savojarna 22–12 Lisander

Pool C                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Lisander                   3   2  0  1   72  34 +38    8
2 Savojarna                  3   2  0  1   60  60   0    8
3 Neu Engollon               3   1  0  2   58  52  +6    4
4 Mattijana                  3   1  0  2   38  82 −44    4

Pool D
Natanians and Nosts 29–7 United States of Devonta
Barunia 21–21 Abanhfleft

Pool D                   Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Natanians and Nosts        3   3  0  0   84  31 +53   12
2 Abanhfleft                 3   1  1  1   69  57 +12    6
3 Barunia                    3   1  1  1   57  57   0    6
4 United States of Devonta   3   0  0  3   24  89 −65    0

Knockout Stage Seeding

Cup
1 Natanians and Nosts
2 Hutanjia
3 Lisander
4 Nova Anglicana
5 Elejamie
6 Darmen
7 Savojarna
8 Abanhfleft

Plate
9 Alpine Union
10 Copper Cuprum
11 Barunia
12 Neu Engollon

Bowl
13 Mattijana
14 Alice Bay
15 Main Nation Ministry
16 United States of Devonta

Saturday Afternoon Matches

Bowl SF1 - Mattijana - United States of Devonta
Bowl SF2 - Alice Bay - Main Nation Ministry

Plate SF1 - Alpine Union - Neu Engollon
Plate SF2 - Copper Cuprum - Barunia

Cup QF1 - Natanians and Nosts - Abanhfleft
Cup QF2 - Hutanjia - Savojarna
Cup QF3 - Lisander - Darmen
Cup QF4 - Nova Anglicana - Elejamie

by **Union of Socialist Alpine Republics** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:29 pm

The Alpine Union goes for the plate

Newport, Alice Bay - (NAP) After losing against Nova Anglicana, the Alpine Union beat Main Nation Ministry 34-7 and Elejamie 24-21. It wasn't enough to qualify for the cup, instead the Alpine Union will try to win the plate. Against Main Nation Ministry on friday afternoon, the Alpine Union scored a try within the first 30 seconds of the game when Alasdair MacIlleMhìcheil crossed the goal line and touched the ball down. The conversion was good and the Bisons were leading 7-0. 20 seconds later, Serge Dusautoir also scored a try which was converted and with less than 1 minute of play, the Alpine Union was already leading 14-0! 2 minutes later, Main Nation ministry scored a try and the Alpine's lead was cut to 14-7. At the 5th minute, Main Nation's hooker was penalised for illegally collapsing a scrum. Serge Dusautoir kicks the ball between the posts and it's 3 more points for the Alpine Union. At the 7th minute, Alasdair MacIlleMhìcheil scored his 2nd try of the game and the Reprezentacja Alpejski is leading 24-7 at the halftime. At the 10th minute, Serge Dusautoir attempted a drop kick and it was succesful, the Alpines were leading 27-7. 3 minutes later, Raghallaigh Ó Conghalaigh escaped in the middle of the field ans scored a try. The Extra points were good and the Alpine Union was leading 34-7. It's the final score.

Then on saturday morning, the Alpine Union played against Elejamie. It's never easy against Elejamie, you can tell the hockey team who finally beat them in the semi finals after losing two times in group stage. The Alpine Union scored first at the 2nd minute when Jack Banahan escaped and crossed the goal line. The try was converted and the score was 7-0 Alpine Union, but Elejamie answered immediately with two converted tries. Mical Caerofim put the score at 7-7 and less than one minute later, Gary Toda gave the lead to Elejamie when he scored a try. Then on their last drive of the 2nd half, the Alpine Union tied the game at 14-14 when Philipp Schweinsteiger scored a converted try. Early in the 2nd half, Serge Dusautoir succesfully made a drop kick and the Alpines took a 17-14 lead. Paul Koppel scored a converted try 3 minutes later to put Elejamie ahead by 4 points. This guy is only 23 and will have a bright future in rugby. The Alpines finally took a 24-21 lead at the 14th minute when Alasdair MacIlleMhìcheil crossed the goal line and touched the ball down. The conversion was good and the Alpines won the game 24-21!

These two wins weren't enough to qualify for the cup and the Alpine Union will instead play for the plate. The 1st match won't be easy because the Bisons will play against Neu Engollon who also failed to qualify for the cup. This is a surprise because Neu Engollon is a rugby powerhouse. If the Alpine Union wins (which would be a surprise), they will play for the plate final on sunday afternoon but if they lose, they will play for the 11th place on sunday morning.

by **Natanians and Nosts** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 8:27 pm

Natanians and Nosts advances to the quarter-finals at he Rugby Sevens World Cup,unbeaten!The team granted its qualification defeating the United States of Devonta,finishing the group stage with a positive point difference of 53.
The team won the match by scoring 8 drop goals and 1 try,which was not converted.Kaeso Nínnio dos Santos scored 4 of them,but missed the converson of the penalty scored by Lucas Lúcius North.The team will play Abanhfleft again to advance to the semi-finals.

by **Elejamie** » Mon Aug 20, 2018 11:09 am

Pool B Roundup
Dave Carrey - Newport, Alice Bay

After a tough and gruelling pool, we're finally at the silverware stage. Yes, we've sorted our sixteen teams out and we've figured out what they'll be playing for. And, spoiler alert, we'll be playing for the Cup. And let me just say that it was a brilliant pool stage with some brilliant games all-round, like Hutanjia's 40-12 demolition of the hosts and the Natanians and Nosts' last game against Devonta, where they scored eight drop goals and an unconverted try to make it a 29-7 win. As well as our game against the Alpine Union, which I'll talk about in some detail later. It just makes you wonder what the knock-out stage will be like. Yes, I know it's not a good opening paragraph but I'm feeling a little bit under the weather so this article might not be as good as I'd like it to be. Besides, I've got nothing to add here so let's get straight to the games.

So let's talk about the first game, which was against the Main Nation Ministry. I don't really have a whole lot to say about this, since I can't really remember who scored for them. I know who scored for us, though. Anyway, they scored first a couple of minutes in with a try on the far-left side of the try line, though fortunately they were unable to convert it. Another fortunate thing was that, a minute later, Gary Toda scored the first Elejamie try of the tournament, making his way past their defence before easily slotting it down in between the posts; he'd go on to easily nail the conversion to give his side a good lead. Toda scored again past the seven minute mark but, since he was just able to score the try on the far-right side of the pitch, he'd go on to miss the conversion; either way, we still had a 12-5 lead going into the break. Shortly after the start of the half we made it 19-5 thanks to a try from David Kramer and a conversion from Toda. And though they would score a converted try shortly afterwards, we'd put the final nail in the coffin with a try from Tim Crespin roughly a minute from time, with a conversion from Toda to top it off. Final score? 26-12.

Then we had the game against Nova Anglicana that afternoon. And let's just say that it was a tough one, but for the right reasons. After all, NA has been a thorn in our side in a few competitions, usually by preventing us from getting a perfect run in the pool stage. However, that didn't happen here as we grabbed yet another 26-12 win. They scored first, with a try just right of the posts and an easy conversion giving them a 7-0 lead. Then Gary Toda scored a penalty, then another penalty and a third penalty to put us in front. However, our lead was short-lived when they scored a second try, although the sole consolation was that we managed to put them in a bad position so they'd be unable to get a conversion. Luckily, just before half-time Mical Caerofim scored a drop goal to make it 12-12 going into the break. The second half was a bit more low-key but it did see some action: a Paul Koppel try roughly 8 minutes into the match, a Caerofim try at exactly 10:30 and, of course, the two conversions Toda scored. Plus one of their guys being given a yellow card for a particularly bad tackle although, by then, the match had already been decided and their defence prevented us from scoring any more points. Either way, it was still a good game.

And we cap things off with the match against the Alpine Union. Pretty much one of our biggest games, in fact, which is why I'm going to split it into two paragraphs. It was also our only pool game that didn't end in a 26-12 win for us or, in fact, it was the only pool game we lost. It probably didn't help that they'd score a try very early on, when Jack Banahan took advantage of a bit of shoddy defending and scored a try 30 seconds in, which was easily converted by Serge Dusautoir. Fortunately, we managed to get our heads in it and answer back with two tries, one by Mical Caerofim and one shortly after by Gary Toda, who also scored both conversions to make it 14-7. However, we were unable to get a lead going into the break thanks to Philipp Schweinsteiger scoring a try just before the break, which Dusautoir also converted. Either way, 14-14 wasn't a bad score going into the break since it theoretically meant we could repeat our performance in the NA game and get a hard-fought win. We just needed to improve our defending and wake the attackers up.

"Theoretically" being the key word there because, early on in the second half (I'd say less than a minute in), Dusautoir regained the lead for the Bisons thanks to a successful and quite brilliant drop goal. Things seemed bleak but there was still a glimmer of hope. After all, Paul Koppel scored our third and final try ten minutes into the match, with Toda getting an easy conversion to give us a four-point lead. It was just a question of whether or not it'll be enough and if we could run out the clock. The answer to both those questions were "no" as, in the dying seconds, Alasdair MacIlleMhìcheil scored a try to put his team out in front. And, thanks to yet another successful kick from Dusautoir, the Alpine Union were 24-21 winners. Yes, they beat us for the second time in a row, though I'm not going to bring up the ice hockey (or more precisely the conspiracy theory that's been floating around) for obvious reasons. Then again, I always found the ice hockey fanbase a bit too ultra for my tastes, which is why I stay out of it.

So where does that leave everyone? Thanks to their 35-14 demolition of the Main Nation Ministry, Nova Anglicana finishes top of the table, with us just behind them; while we both have the same record (2-0-1), they're ahead of us thanks to point difference (+31 compared to +25). Disappointing, yes, but at least it means we're both competing for the Cup. The Alpine Union also had the same record but, thanks to them having a PD of +6, they'll have to settle for the Plate stage instead. And the Main Nation Ministry, with no points coming from three defeats and a PD of -62, will play for the Bowl. Indeed, the MNM have the worst defensive record out of the sixteen teams here as they allowed 95 points in total, averaging about 32 points allowed per game, which means they might face an uphill battle if they want to come home with something.

But what about the other groups? After a disastrous start, Hutanjia finish top of Pool A with Darmen joining them in the Cup stage, followed by Copper Cuprum in third and Alice Bay in dead last after losing all of their games. Much like Pool B, the top three teams had the same record (2-0-1), though Hutanjia had a point difference of +38, Darmen had +17 and Copper Cuprum had -3. And Pool C was another case where first and second also had a 2-0-1 record, although Lisander finished top with a point difference of +38 whereas Savojarna had scored the same amount of points they allowed; however there is some variation as, surprisingly enough, Neu Engollon finished third thanks to a last day win over Mattijana, who finished fourth but still got three points thanks to a win against Savojarna. However, Pool D was the odd one out as there seemed to be a bit of variety. For a start, the Natanians and Nosts finished top of their table as the only team who had won all of their games, presumably thanks to their captain, the spectacular Kaeso Ninnio dos Santos, doing what he does best: scoring a lot of drop goals. Abanhfleft and Barunia both finished with a record of 1-1-1 thanks to a 21-21 draw on their last day, but Abanhfleft are going through to the Cup on point difference; +12 compared to another 0. And the United States of Devonta end up in last place with the worst point difference out of the lot, -65. Ouch.

So who will be playing who? And for what? In the Bowl section, we have Mattijana vs the United States of Devonta, as well as the hosts Alice Bay taking on the Main Nation Ministry. In the Plate section, we have the Alpine Union facing off against Neu Engollon, while Copper Cuprum will play reigning Rugby [Union] World Cup champs Barunia. But the Cup section will be where all the action is. The Natanians and Nosts, lead by Captain Kaeso, will play Abanhfleft. Rugby league powerhouses Hutanjia will face Savojarna, hosts of their eponymous Sevens. Lisander, hosts of the URSA Sevens, will be up against Darmen. And it'll be a Pool B match-up as we'll be taking on Nova Anglicana yet again.

But before I go, do I have any predictions? Yes, yes I do. It'll probably be Mattijana vs Alice Bay in the final, with the host nation winning the Bowl at home. The winner of the the Neu Engollon-Alpine Union game will win the Plate, since I can't decide which one of them will be my pick, although if I had to pick one I'd say that Neu Engollon will make a massive comeback from their poor display early on and come back home with some silverware. But who will win the Cup and be crowned sevens World Champions? That's a very good question and, indeed, both Elejamie and Lisander are both the favourites. As much as I'd like to say that Coach Kim and the boys will bring home both the Cup and national pride, I'm afraid I'm going to have to pick Lisander to win the title. That being said, the Natanians and Nosts have been doing pretty well and, while I'm not saying they'll win it, I won't be too surprised if they do.

Now that I've said my piece, I've got to get going now. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I haven't had enough time to get any up. Partly because I've been a little bit ill (not enough to make me miss the tournament but enough to make things a bit more difficult for me) and partly because I'm in a little bit of a rush so I can get to work on covering the next load of games. I should hopefully make it up to you guys soon but, for now, take care. I'm off to watch some more incredible rugby action. I hope you are too, either here, online or on TRC.

Rugby Sevens World Cup 4 - Everything Thread

Rugby Sevens World Cup 4 - Everything Thread

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