WRFU VII's Qualifying Tournaments for summer 2000 Announced David McPhail, the WRFU VII's Coordinator has just announced the VII's qualifiers for this summer. Please contact the respective tournament director (see below) or David McPhail (dmcphail@swbanktx.com or 713-235-8881 ext. 1403) for specific information on these events.

FYI...

The outright winner of a qualifying tournament automatically qualifies for the WRFU VIIs Club Championship on July 29, 2000 in Lawrence, KS. As is often the case, one team wins more than one qualifier. However, the #2 team from that event is NOT automatically qualified. The WRFU VIIs Coordinator, David McPhail, tracks the results of all qualifiers during the season, noting who lost to whom, how qualifiers did a given team participate in, how competitive is a given team, etc. From these data, wild card teams will be offered a slot in the championships. The final standing and seeding for the WRFU VIIs Club Championships will be announced soon.

WRFU VIIs Club Championships - The Final Eight (Not seeded)

Kansas City Blues "A"
St. Louis Bombers
Houston Athletic Club (HARC)
University of Texas
Kanounty (a combined Kansas and County team)
Albuquerque Aardvarks
The Woodlands
Kansas City Blues "B"

Brackets

Western Rugby Union VIIs Championship Brackets and Match Schedule

The West has two slots in the National VIIs Championships, so the two Finalist will advance.

Kansas City Blues take two WRFU slots for USA Rugby National Club VIIs Championship. The Kansas City Blues qualifed two independent 10-man VIIs teams - "A" and "B" - for the WRFU Club VIIs Championships July 29th in Lawrence, KS. The Blues were issued two invitations by WRFU VIIs Coordinator, David McPhail, after several teams became unavailable for the finals, and in recognition of their entry and performance in several of the qualifying tournaments this summer.

The upset of the day saw the KC Blues "B" team defeat the St. Louis Bombers in a very close first-round match.  KC Blues "B" went on to defeat The Woodlands, and got a forfeit win over the Aardvarks.  The KC Blues "A  defeated Jayhawks/County, University of Texas, and HARC.  In the semifinals, the winner of Pool A (KC Blues "A") defeated the runner-up in Pool B (St. Louis Bombers), while the winner of Pool B (KC Blues "B") defeated the runner-up in Pool A (University of Texas).  Both KC Blues teams won in convincing fashion, to qualify both for the National Championships August 12-13 in Conshocken, PA. Third Place went to the St. Louis Bombers who defeated a young, but talented University of Texas side.  In the finals, KC Blues "A" prevailed over KC Blues "B", in a match that was largely uncontested.  (Sorry, I do not have all the scores - I will post these when I receive them from David McPhail.).

POSTSCRIPT:  Notable was the fact that both the Dallas Harlequins and Austin Blacks, who each won a qualifying tournament and qualified for the Championships, declined to participate.  Furthermore, there were no clubs from the Eastern Rockies RFU.  The Albuquerque Aardvarks confirmed attendance with David McPhail the week before, but were a "no show".  In case there is some concern about the KC Blues supporting two sides, it should be known that the Blues consistently have 30-35 players at VIIs training, and have entered two sides in several tournaments this summer. They were invited to complete the championships on the basis of consistent tournament performance only after several teams withdrew. The rosters submitted for the A & B teams in Saturday's championship were completely separate and no mixing of the tournament rosters was allowed.