News from the Lakefront 7s

Lakefront 7s finalists show their national calibre at USA Rugby Club championships

The Lakefront 7s has always featured the top teams in the Midwest and the team that wins the Men’s Qualifier bracket invariably makes an appearance at the National Sevens Club Championship.

The 2011 tournament was no exception as the 1st and 2nd place teams, the Lions (Chicago) and Youngbloodz (Minneapolis), went on to take the top two positions at the Midwest RFU territorial playoffs and thus qualified for the national championship.

In pool play, both teams had 2-1 records with an exciting upset over Denver by the Youngbloodz.

The Lions met perennial favorites Belmont Shore in an exciting quarterfinal match-up. The match was tied at 7 a piece with 90 seconds remaining when a Belmont Shore late-game replacement ran in a 50 meter try to knock the Lions out of the competition.

Lakefront 7s, July 8 & 9, 2011 On June 30th, 2012, the Milwaukee Rugby Sevens Association will host the 30th annual Lakefront 7s, the largest single-day, seven-a-side rugby tournament in North America.

We will again partner with Milwaukee County to hold the event at Veterans’s Park on the shores of scenic Lake Michigan.

In addition, we have tentative plans to hold a a 35+, 45+ and 55+ Old Boys 10s festival on Friday, Junbe 29. This expanded format would be the first two-day event in the history of the Lakefront 7s.

So save the dates for the 2011 Lakefront 7s tournament. It is shaping up to be one of the best tournaments in recent years. Registration will open on February 1, 2012.

[UPDATE - 27-October-2011] Given the timing of the 2011 RWC, the Old Boys festival will be moved to 2013.

Last Updated on Thursday, 27 October 2011 06:30

Twin Cities Amazons win the Women’s Competitive bracket

Victor Drover awards the Twin Cities Amazons - Women's Competitive

VIctor Drover awards the Amazons

The Women’s Competitive bracket was a proving ground for new talent at the 2010 Lakefront 7s.

Following the seeding round, the only repeat finalist from 2010 was Boomerangs (formerly Chicago North Shore) who took the 4th seed into the knock-out round with a 2-1 record. This was the second consecutive finals qualification for Boomerangs in 3 appearances at the Lakefront 7s.

The 3rd seed was awarded to La Crosse (2-1) who showed an impressive improvement in quality after failing to win a single game in 2010 with 2 sides entering the tournament.

The 1st and second seeds were awarded to the undefeated teams from each bracket, Lakefront 7s newcomers the Twin Cities Amazons (St. Paul, MN) and Wisconsin RFC (Madison, WI).

Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 August 2011 21:35

Victor Drover awards the Chicago Blaze - Men's Competitive

VIctor Drover awards the Blaze

The second-tier Men’s competition was an exciting pool. It was the first to fill up during the registration period and the enthusiasm spilled onto the field with dramatic seeding and knock-out rounds.

In pool play, the Hyenas finished as the 1st seed with with a 3-0 record, due in part by the surprising forfeit of Lincoln Park. The winners of the other 3 brackets all had 2-0-1 records with the draws revealing how close the competition was.

Second seed Griffins edged out Youngbloodz on points with both teams tied at 17 tries each. Milwaukee, with 14 tries, were promoted over Louisville (2-1-0 record) while the Blaze went through as the 4th seed with a 2-try margin over Dubuque.

Last Updated on Monday, 18 July 2011 14:17

VIctor Drover awards Condors

As in the past, the Men’s Open Social division is the most heavily attended and with 32 teams this year, we created two 16-team competitions.

In Men’s Social 1, the Chicago Condors and Chicago Riot took the top-two seeds in pool play, each with 11 tries and 3-0-0 records.

Krakens were also undefeated in the seeding round averaging 3 tries per match.

The Pandas emerged as the 4th seed from the most competitive bracket with a 2-0-1 record having played to one of the few draws all day.

Despite the 4th place ranking, the Pandas had managed to 9 tries when qualifying for the semi-final, and presented a strong challenge to the Condors. At the final whistle, the Condors maintained only a 5-point lead in the exciting 26-21 barn-burner.

On the other side of the table, the 3rd-seeded Krakens upset 2nd-seeded Chicago Riot with a confident 28-0 performance.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 August 2011 21:35

Joe Kloiber awards the Chicago Lions - Men's Qualifier

Joe Kloiber awards the Lions

In their third consecutive Qualifier finals at the Lakefront 7s, the Chicago Lions defeated Youngbloodz in a one-sided affair as the sun began set on a magnificent day of rugby.

Youngbloodz, having lost just one match to the Lions in pool play and winning the 4th seed in the knock-out stage, were the dark horse in the knock-out stage as they faced 1st-seed Griffins in the semi-final.

With a whopping 19 tries during the seeding round, Griffins were heavily favored to advance to the final.

Unfazed by the seeding, the Youngbloodz were aggressive on defense and created numerous scoring opportunities over an increasingly frustrated Griffins side.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 August 2011 21:35

VIctor Drover awards Cathedral

The 2011 High School Boys bracket was a little smaller than in previous years but the 8-team contest produced some interesting match-ups.

In the seeding round, tourney new-comers Cathedral (Carmel, Indiana) racked up an impressive 28 tries in 3 matches to capture the 1st-placed seed in the knockout rounds.

On the other side of the table, the Madtown Loudpack (Madison, Wisconsin) were also undefeated to take the second seed.

MUHS (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and Naperville (Lisle, Illinois) - who were eliminated in 2010 in the seeding round - filled out the 2011 knockout round with 2-1 records.

In the first semi-final, Loudpack put on a clinical show with 8 unanswered and converted tries over MUHS. Final score: 48-0.

Last Updated on Friday, 29 July 2011 06:01

VIctor Drover awards Beaver Nation

The Women’s Social division at the Lakefront 7s usually attracts a very consistent set of teams from the Midwest and this year was no exception.

In fact, three of the finalist teams were repeat participants with Beaver Nation being the débutantes.

The pool stage started the day with some drama as the Sirens failed to show for their matches.

Some of the other teams to attempted to assemble a replacement but after much delay, the Tournament Director decided to give byes to the teams in this bracket rather than risk pushing the schedule too far off track.

Hooligans and Beaver Nation were clear front-runners, finishing with perfect 3-0 records in their pool brackets and advancing to the semi-finals as the 1st and 2nd seeds.

As the best 2nd-place team among all the 3 brackets, Velociraptors took the 3rd seed in their second consecutive finals qualification.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 August 2011 09:34

Victor Drover awards KISS - Men's Social 2

VIctor Drover awards Condors

In the second of two Men’s Social divisions, we again saw three teams advance from the pool stages with perfect 3-0 records separated only by the number of tries scored: 1st seeded KISS (16 tries), 2nd seeded Snekark (14 tries) and 3rd seeded Mercenaries (12 tries).

Of interest to our local rugby family here in Milwaukee, the KISS bracket also contained a team of “Kloibers” with all the players being sons of the Lakefront 7s founder "Pappa Joe" Kloiber.

The last bracket consisted primarily of Old Boys teams but surprisingly produced the closest contest and yet another draw. Milwaukee Old Boys captured the 4th seed with a 2-0-1 record.

As 4th seed, Milwaukee was up against KISS in the first semi-final and for an Old Boy team, represented their club well in putting up 2 tries in KISS who went on to win 33-12.

In the other semi-final, Sekark were the dominant side and perfect on defense, putting up a 24-0 victory heading into the final.

Last Updated on Monday, 01 August 2011 08:04

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