By William Stanton
Southern Virginia University’s sevens Rugby team competed in the second Rugby East tournament of the season this past weekend at the University of Maryland. Unlike their first tournament, this tournament would decide who makes it to the national tournament in Washington, D.C.
In pool play, Southern Virginia was matched up with Notre Dame College, Kutztown University, Salisbury University, and University of Delaware. They started off the day with a tough loss to Notre Dame College, who would go on to win the tournament. In their second match, they faced off against the defending national champions, Kutztown University. Southern Virginia could never get things going, and by the time that they did, it was too late. Things started to look up for Southern Virginia as they steam rolled through Salisbury University in a dominant fashion. They would finish off the day with a convincing win against the University of Delaware. Going 2–2 on the day, Southern Virginia was unable to compete in the finals of the tournament, and are still in the hunt for a national tournament invitation.
The team for this tournament consisted of Apa Tokelau, Sikeli Naivalu, O’Shea Settle, Aminio Manu, Josh Nelson, Wei Stanton, Michael Golden, Kaehukai Burke, Vita Tuitavake, Maikeli Tuinakauvadra, Kenton Parkin, Nate Matis, Ammon Uasila’a, Aaron Root, and Michael Ellis.
Southern Virginia’s next tournament will be on April 1 at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. If you have the opportunity to make the two hour drive, I highly recommend supporting the rugby team as they continue their quest for the national tournament.
Rugby Competes at the University of Maryland Sevens Tournament was originally published in The Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
