The Milwaukee Barbarians Athletic Club started the sevens rugby season by sending a Division 1 and Division 2 squad to Greenville, WI to complete at the Leinie’s 7s.
The Leinie’s 7s is a single-divison tournament and the Barbarians were drawn into Pools B and C for the seeding round.
Seeding Round, Division 1
In Pool B, the Barbarians D1 started well a pair of shut-outs: 54-0 vs Great Dane and 50-0 against the strikers.
The last pool match was a tighter affair against the Wisconsin Rugby Club and at half time, the Barbarians held a narrow 3-point lead. But a pair of unanswered tries by the Milwaukee rugby team led to a final score of 27-14.
At the end of Pool play, the Barbarians D1 side had a perfect 3-0 record and were the top seed in Pool B.
Seeding Round, Division 2
In Pool C, the Barbarians D2 side had a similar path. Their first 2 games were mostly clinical displays with victories of 40-12 (vs. Fox Cities) and 31-0 (vs. Oshkosh).
The third match was much closer against Green Bay’s determined first side (Green Bay 1). But at the final whistle, the Barbarians D2 had the advantage with a 21-12 final score.
The 3-0 record earned the Barbarians D2 side the top seed in Pool C.
Semi-final #1
Based on point differential, the Barbarians D1 side earned the first seed overall and met fourth-seeded Green Bay 2 in the semifinals.
The Barbarians notched their third shut-out of the day in this match with a 26-0 victory paving the way to the Championship match.
Semi-final #2
The Barbarians D2 side secured the second seed overall and met third-seeded Milwaukee Rugby Football Club in the second semi-final.
MRFC started strongly with a pair of tries and got out quickly to a 14-0 lead. But the Barbarians D2 replied with 3 unanswered tries of their own to take the lead 19-14.
The score then leveled at 19-19 when MRFC touched down again.
But the offensive power and fitness of the Barbarians eventually overwhelmed MRFC. Two more tries gave the Barbarians the come-from-behind 31-19 victory and a ticket to the Championship.
Championship match
The Barbarians found themselves in a unique situation as each of their sides had identical 4-0 records and met in the Championship match essentially as an intra-squad training session.
But this match was anything but a “friendly” with players looking ahead to selections in week 2.
Like the second semi-final, the Barbarians D2 side got behind early but slowly clawed their way back into contention. And that determination was rewarded with a try in the last play of the match to take the lead and the match: 29-24 for the D2 squad.
All together, the Milwaukee Barbarians Athletic Club finished the day with both the first and second place trophies.
“This is a good start to the season. Now we have real competition in the squad!”, said newly-appointed Assistant Head Coach Ewan O’Donnell who managed both sides throughout the day.
Leinie’s 7s Division 1 Roster
- Mike Albert (C)
- Rob Bartlett
- Wesley Seay
- Trevor Hergert
- Zach Setum
- Tom Fossell
- Ryan Duklas
- Darrin Schaffer
- Jeff Cebe
- Justin Patterson
- Alex Mross
Leinie’s 7s Division 2 Roster
- Adam Regini
- Travis Loessin
- Luke Ellis
- Zach Price
- Robby Sindic (C)
- Garrett Shibiliski
- Keenan Leahy
- Vincent Esteve
- Floarian Aubry
- Matt Drezewiecki
