TOLA Rugby 7s Series    

Men's Standings

note: the following standings update includes results from Norman, OK and Little Rock, AR. A technical difficulty prevented the Norman Tournament updates from being published last week.

Week 5: Norman, OK.

Teams were treated to a great day of Rugby on phenominal pitches and perfect weather (high 80's with a light breeze) in Norman on July 18th. A strong home OU team defeated OKC in the Cup final and Oklahoma State edged Tulsa for 3rd place. An upstart team from Tyler TX received a warm welcome to the Rugby community by taking home the Plate.

Week 6: Little Rock, AR.

Little Rock took advantage of the opportunity to showcase their top class facility while simultaneously showing some strong competition that they are serious about making a run at the 2009 TOLA championship. Little Rock handled all comers and ultimately defeated a well balanced Arkansas Gryphons in the Final (score was 19-12). The team that has proven itself to be the most consistent of the series, OKC, took home 3rd place and Arkansas State finished 4th.

Shreveport will host the final tournament in the 2009 TOLA series and it looks like it's going to come down to the wire once again. 5 teams are in a position to challenge for the championship and 8 have a shot at a podium finish.

HARC hosted the 4th TOLA qualifer in the 2009 campaign and the tournament did not disapoint. With the Harlequins pulling out of the competition to take a run at nationals, El Azul playing in their second consecutive final, and Little Rock not attending, this top of the order has been shaken up quite a bit. El Azul takes command of the field, jumping from 5th to 1st, the Pirates jump from 8th to 3rd and Alamo City settles into Second place.

With a TOLA qualifer in San Antonio and a West Qualifier in Dallas on June 27th, the 3rd TOLA week in the '09 campaign was quite busy in Texas. Alamo City defeated El Azul in the final of their own tournament to secure 7 points and jump into a 3 way tie for 5th place. Though only securing 1 point for attending the West Qulifier in Dallas, the Harlequins maintain a strong lead in the competition (though they will be eliminated from the TOLA competition if they attend the Denver or KC West Qualifiers).

It was a HOT ONE at Bloodfest (Austin, TX).  With men's teams competing, there were a few upsets and some great rugby.  The AAHS squad demonstrated the greatest fortitude of the day taking on and beating teams 3 times their size and were awarded the TOLA point(In the first game of the day, Nasty's 3 forwards out wieghed the entire 15-man roster of AAHS).  Quins started slow but finished hard beeting OK City (who earlier upset Elite Black).  Little Rock took 3rd with a win over the Grey.  The Elite Black bounced back and won the Plate.  The NOMADS, a group on a Batchelor Party, won the Bowl and El Blanco worked hard to win the Trophy.  The DB's played spirited rugby and won the Social Bracket.

The Sophmore season of the TOLA Championship Series officially kicked off in Dallas TX one week after pre-season tournaments in Denton and Corpus gave us a look at what to expect in 2009. One fact will not be argued, the second year competition is showing early signs of being much more competitive and no wins can be taken for granted.