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Brooklyn Rugby Club women win New Jersey 7s championship

Women earn hardware for second straight week; men remain at top of Empire standings

July 22, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Rugby Club
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The men and women of Brooklyn Rugby Club completed another successful weekend at the New Jersey 7s tournament in Monmouth Junction on Saturday. The women earned hardware for the second consecutive week, while the men finished in second place to maintain their lead at the top of the 2015 Empire Sevens Series standings.

After finishing in first at NJ 7s in 2014, the Brooklyn women had high hopes of repeating coming into this weekend. They opened their day with a tough loss to Harrisburg (PA), 10-7, but rebounded with a 22-0 shutout against Union (NJ). In their third and final pool play match, Brooklyn faced a tough Monmouth (NJ) squad, narrowly falling 10-7, in a game that could have gone either way.

In the Plate Semifinal, Brooklyn faced off against Monmouth ‘B’ (NJ), playing most of the game in Monmouth’s half and rolling to a 19-0 win to advance to the Plate Finals. In the Finals, Brooklyn faced off against Union, who they had already defeated 22-0 during pool play earlier in the day. The result this time around was much of the same, as Brooklyn combined stout defensive play with a number of long offensive series, maintaining possession of the ball for a large part of the game. Brooklyn cruised to a 31-0 win to capture the Plate, beating Union twice on the day by a combined score of 53-0.

The Brooklyn men continued their quest for an Empire Sevens Series championship with a second place finish at NJ 7s. The team remained undefeated on the season in pool play games, defeating Montclair (NJ) 19-5, Village Lions (NYC) 33-0, and Princeton Athletic Club (NJ) 7-5.

In the Cup Semifinals Brooklyn faced off against New York Rugby Club (NYC), who sat in second place in the Series standings coming into the day. This match proved to be a microcosm of the entire sevens season between these two teams, as they have been battling each other for the top spot all year. Although Brooklyn maintained possession for a large part of the game, much of the play was contested around midfield. Brooklyn took an early lead into halftime and relied heavily upon their defensive game plan, cruising to a 12-0 victory over their Manhattan-based rivals. In the Cup Final, Brooklyn faced the Fairfield Yankees (CT). The game was back and forth throughout and after Fairfield scored first to go up 7-0, Brooklyn evened the score with a try of their own to make it 7-7. Late in the second half, Brooklyn broke free for a try to take the lead but missed on the conversion, making it 12-7 with just seconds remaining. On the final play, Fairfield was able to break free down the field for a try at the final whistle and successfully made their conversion to steal the victory and capture the NJ 7s Cup Championship.

The Brooklyn men remain in first place in the Empire Sevens Series heading into the final weekend of the season. Both the men and the women will wrap up the 2015 sevens season this Saturday, July 25, at the Blazing 7s Tournament in Morristown, NJ.

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