Friday, January 13th 2017 saw the beginning of a new intrasquad sevens season here in Ann Arbor. The team saw a big influx of new players this year and with it, a sizable change in the structure of many of our beloved sevens teams. Only time will tell if the trends that began to shape on Friday will continue into the season. Prepare yourselves for another great year of Michigan Rugby sevens.
Game 1: Canham 19 – Duderstadt 14
After an early try by Canham, Canham’s Colin “Shaggy” Walters added to their lead with a big run and score. The Dudes soon responded with a great Andre Cargill to Nate “Fish” Fisher connection for the try. Guy “Buddy” Burke dotted down the next try for the Dudes with a perfectly timed kick and chase. A hard fought drive down the field by all of Canham led to the young Caleb Fisher scoring his first ever sevens try to win the game for Canham. The first sevens game this season proved to be a real barn burner, and there is only more excitement to come.
Partial footage found here:
Game 2: Mary Sue Coleman 17 – James Earl Jones 17
A neck and neck matchup here resulted in a tie after a hard fought game from both teams. Alex “propback” Carson started the match off immediately with a humiliating stiff arm on poor Max “Johnny Bravo” Cocco (who was generously filling in for Jones, being an Oosterbaan player himself) that led to a long run and a score for the Sues. The Sue Crew almost started off really strong with another long run from the propback (again giving Johnny Bravo a good shove) and then offloading to Jamie “ChaCha” Demers who just missed the chance to get a try due to a not releasing penalty. Jones quickly responded off the penalty with a great run and offload from Lee Moore to Bennie Oosterbaan’s very own Lyric Kleber who brought in the try for the Jones after a great 60+ yard run. Next a well coordinated effort from the Jones off of a high tackle penalty (that recent rule change hurt a lot of teams this week) led to their second score of the night by Jake “Fakey Jakey” Bailey to close out the half. The Jones were again gifted a try from an Oosterbaan player, this time the surprisingly swift Ryan “Madden” Hart. Jones almost scored again after the freshman Davis “Pancakes” Grimm absolutely trucked three people, but Justin “Mouse” Malin was able to hold up a try from Nate “Fish” Fisher. For some unfathomable reason, Nicholas “Crawdad” Mattes played scrum half for the resulting scrum. After a few more minutes of hard play, Crawdad himself is able to dot down another try for Jones. The final score of the match came from an unreasonably well placed kick from Alex “propback” Carson that landed the ball right back in his own hands and eventually on the ground in the try zone. This tied the game up right as time expired!
Game 3: Bennie Oosterbaan 22 – Stephen M. Ross 15
It’s clear to see from the results of this game that the standings from previous years no longer mean anything, as Oosterbaan was a team that traditionally struggled while Ross had won a string of championships in a row. Bennie started off the scoring with a great team effort that led to Ryan “Madden” Hart putting down a try. After a few minutes of intense play, the machine of a man Madden put down another try for Bennie. On the resulting kickoff, a great run from Bennie Oosterbaan’s Juan Marco allowed Ben “Tower” Cotsarelis to use his lanky tower arms to put the ball in for another Bennie try. Ross finally responded after a long run from Andrew “aren’t you a coach?” Stevick who offloaded to the brand new Gabriel “I’m so new I don’t have a nickname yet” Guerra who put down the ball in the try zone for his first ever rugby try. Bennie soon responded when Jason “Caveman” Anthony used his cave-wheels and left Ross in the dust for another score. Ross, realizing they were losing badly to the team that unfairly but still commonly gets called the worst sevens team, quickly got the ball to the edge where John “I’m faster than you” Spooney turned on the world class jets and dotted in a try for Ross. The final try of the match was put in by Andrew “this guy is definitely a coach” Stevick after a little help from an obstructing ref (looking at you Kasten). Final score: Bennie 22, Ross 15. There’s a new kid on the block.
Game 4: Jones 0 – Canham 22
A tough loss for Jones here. Albert “cutie-pie” Foo scored the first try with a great dummy off the ruck. Foo contributed to the next score with a behind the back pass to Zack “Junior” Burns who took off for the try. After playing in the red zone for quite awhile due to a big run from the young Caleb Fisher, Danny Wong was finally able to put the ball in the try zone for Canham. Canham again got down the field from a long run by Colin “Shaggy” Walters until Davis “pancakes” Grimm absolutely manhandled Shaggy to the ground. Soon after however, Henry “beastmode” Phillips muscles his way into the try zone for Canham. Neither team was able to find the try zone for the rest of the match, unfortunately for all of us as now we have to listen to Canham’s already inflated egos.
Game 5: Dudes 15 – Bennie 5
A heartbreaker for the young guns on Bennie Oosterbaan (Bennie and the Jets), our *unofficial* favorite underdogs this season. After over 5 minutes of scoreless playing, the Dudes are able to score after a questionable high tackle yellow card that puts Bennie at a numbers disadvantage. A young Jared “seafood” Char exploited the disadvantage and ran the ball in for a quick 5 points for the Dudes. Shortly after, Tim Telford decided he wanted in on the action and ran the ball in for another Dudes try. At this point something is clearly up, since Bennie is a very competitive team. Unfortunately for our heroes on Oosterbaan, Nick “Squeeeee” Azzopardi later trucked a few kids before scoring a third and final try for the Dudes. You would think the scoreless Bennie team would lower their heads in defeat. But no, our protagonists held their heads high and soon a long run from Oosterbaan’s very own propwing Ryan “Madden” Hart allowed Lyric Kleber to grab the ball from the 3 yard line and score the try. Bennie refuses to be shut out this year.
Game 6: Ross 12 – Sues 10
Jamie “ChaCha” Demers started off the scoring in this match by dominating a few kids physically and touching the ball down in the try zone for the Sues. Not to be outdone, Meng Shi managed to break free of the defense and run over 60 yards to offload the ball to John “I’m still faster than you” Spooney who ran the ball to the try zone to put 5 on the board for Ross. John “there will never be a point where I’m not faster than you” Spooney wasn’t finished however, and shortly after took another offload from Meng in for 5 points. The Sues, trying to tie the game, manage to score a try off a big run from Caleb Fisher. Unfortunately, they couldn’t convert the kick and Ross managed to hang on to the win.
All in all a great week of sevens rugby. Tune in next week for this coming Friday’s games!
