Andrew King, Tournament Director, summed up the season beginning action when he said "This is by far the most competitive this tournament has been since I have been paying attention." 
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On the Women's side, there were four teams vying for placement in a bracket that is built upon two tournaments.  The first was June 23rd, with the latter on July 14th.  Only three of the four teams would qualify after this tournament.  The scores were fairly definitive, with a couple exceptions.  Berkeley All Blues fielded 2 teams, All Blues and All Blues B. Both were in the first two games, with both games tallying the same score; 41-0.  However, it was Life West beating All Blues B, with All Blues blanking San Jose.  San Jose played a back to back, this time against All Blue B, and was able to put points on the board but again lost, 26-10.  In a foreshadowing of the final (spoiler alert) Life West won the narrowest of contests 22-20 over All Blues, and then went on to stretch their legs with the widest of victories over San Jose 47-10.  All Blues were pitted against their B side and came out victorious 29-10.  The final showed another close game, with Life West squeaking by, yet again, over All Blues 17-14.

The women's standings after 23 June:
1. Life West
2. All Blues
3. All Blues B (Non-Qualifying)
4. San Jose

The men fielded seven teams with six hoping to qualify for the championship on 29 July.  There will be two round robin tournaments over two weekends.  The top four teams will move on to the Semifinals, and then the Finals.  There will be a consolation match on 14 July after the last 2 round robin games.  The scores reflected the weekend's atmosphere, where any of the teams could walk away with the win, and most games were very close.  Santa Rosa beat up on San Francisco Golden Gate (SFGG) 26-7.  Olympic Club won against Old Gaels 12-5.  San Jose lost to Life West 24-12, who then handed Sacramento its only loss on the day 22-19.  San Jose continued to have a hard time finding a win against SFGG, losing a close race 22-17.  Old Gaels over Santa Rosa 14-12.  Olympic Club bested Life West 19-14 while SFGG fell to Sacramento 26-22.  San Jose continued its losing streak against Old Gaels 22-12 while Life West lost a close game against Santa Rosa 26-24.  Sacramento beat Old Gaels 24-14, and SFGG continued to fall, losing to Olympic Club 19-17.  Sacramento again scored 24 points in a victory over Santa Rosa 24-12.  Olympic Club remained undefeated against the winless San Jose 31-7 in the last game of the tournament. 

The Men's Standings after 23 June:
1. Olympic Club 4-0
2. Sacramento 3-1
3 Santa Rosa 2-2
3. Life West 2-2
3. Olde Gaels 2-2
6. SFGG 1-3
7. San Jose 0-4

LAFAYETTE, Colo. - The 32-team field for the Aug. 12-13 USA Rugby Emirates Airline Club 7s National Championship is solidified after July 29's Midwest and Pacific North Regional Championships qualified three more teams for Nationals.

MIDWEST 7S CHAMPIONSHIP
Youngbloodz Rugby's legacy as one of the best women's sevens programs in the country lives on - but under a new name. The newly formed Minneapolis Rugby 7s, which is essentially the Youngbloodz's player pool competing under a new brand, won the Midwest 7s Championship over the weekend, and will make its first appearance at Nationals following a run of five consecutive appearances by the Youngbloodz.

Minneapolis' run to the Midwest Final was made a bit easier with the Chicago Lions having already qualified. The Lions, winners of the region's three qualifying events leading up to the championship tournament, were awarded the women's Midwest No. 1 seed on the 'Golden Ticket' law.

​Cincinnati Rugby, hosts of the Midwest Championship, gave its fans something to cheers for when its women's team raced to the Final. However, the hometown squad's impressing outing fell shy of a bid to Nationals when Minneapolis downed the Wolfhounds, 33-10.

31 out of this year's 47 qualifying tournaments are now complete, and the 2017 USA Rugby Emirates Airline Club 7s National Championship field is starting to come into picture. As of July 8, three teams have already officially qualified, and another handful are more or less de facto qualified by their performance thus far. 

LAFAYETTE, Colo. - The busiest weekend of the summer of qualifying events for the Aug. 12-13 USA Rugby Club Emirates Airline Club 7s National Championship saw certain clubs distance themselves from the pack thanks to first-place finishes Saturday, July 8, while other regional competitions tightened as a number of teams picked up their first tournament victories of the summer.
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A trio of teams, meanwhile, became the first of 32 sides to qualify for the 2017 Club 7s National Championship in Minneapolis, Minn. 2015 National Championship winner American Rugby Pro Training Center claimed the Red River's No. 1 seed to Nationals, and the Austin Valkyries punched their ticket as the region's second squad. On the men's front, reigning National Champion Rugby Utah has earned the right to defend its title after winning a second tournament in the Frontier Region.

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. - Sixty-four of the 96 matches at the 2016 USA Rugby Emirates Airline Club 7s National Championships were played on the grounds of Dick's Sporting Goods Park Saturday, and eight teams are still in the race for a National Championship.

Women's Cup Semifinalists Scion Sirens and Oregon Rugby Sports Union kicked off the day at nine a.m. MT in separate matches, while the men's competition kicked off 80 minutes later on fields outside of the main stadium on the outskirts of Denver. The National Championship concludes Sunday, Aug. 14, with the Finals of both genders' Shield, Bowl, Plate, and Cup - as well as the third-place matches - scheduled for the stadium field beginning at noon MT. The action kicks off at nine a.m. MT on The Rugby Channel, where streams from all three fields are available to viewers at no cost.

American Rugby Pro Training Center made history in Des Moines, Iowa, last year, winning the women's National Championship in just its first year of existence as a squad. Not shockingly, ARPTC went undefeated through its three matches against Old Blue of New York, Phoenix, and Youngbloodz Saturday to take the top seed out of Pool A. Capped Women's Eagles Sevens Rachel Perry set the tone for the club from Little Rock, Ark., while XVs Eagle Jess Wooden provided the composure and conversion-kicking accuracy necessary to reach the Cup Semifinals.

LAFAYETTE, Colo. - Three-quarters of Pool C at the Aug. 13-14 USA Rugby Emirates Airline Club 7s National Championships compete in the Women's Premier League. Throw in the Austin Valkyries, a 2016 Division I national playoff team this past spring, to go along with the Berkeley All Blues, Glendale Raptors, and San Diego Surfers, and you have quite possibly the toughest pool top-to-bottom.

No women's team has won more Club 7s National Championships than the Pacific South's No. 1 seed - San Diego Surfers. The club has been revered for its play in 15s, but something in the water in southern California has made the Surfers one of the most formidable sevens teams in the country.

LAFAYETTE, Colo. - Twenty-four Eagles are a little more than a week away from realizing their dreams of becoming Olympic athletes.

Team USA's rugby squads, both men's and women's, take pride in the diverse melting pot that makes up their rosters. Some players have been recruited out of other sports and brought into the Olympic Training Center to boost USA Rugby's chances of taking a place on the podium in Rio. Several other soon-to-be Olympic stars have progressed through age-grade, college, and club rugby ranks until it was time for their Eagle call-ups, and many of those players did not receive a call until they showed well at a USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship event.

The Berkeley All Blues won the very first Women's Club 7s National Championship in 2011, and it was none other than Eagles captain Kelly Griffin that took home individual hardware as the tournament's Most Valuable Player that weekend. Although the All Blues have returned to Nationals every year since their Championships win in 2011, including a second title run in 2013, Griffin's remarkable form in the '11 event propelled her to become one of the initial contracted rugby players at the Olympic Training Center in 2012, and she has not been back to Nationals with the All Blues since.

Several of Griffin's Olympic teammates got to experience Finals footy a year later at the 2012 Club 7s National Championships. Eagles Ryan Carlyle (San Diego Surfers), Lauren Doyle (Chicago North Shore), and Kathryn Johnson (Youngbloodz) each reached the Cup Quarterfinals in San Francisco that summer, with Carlyle and the Surfers claiming top prize. A year later, Carlyle and Johnson returned to the Cup Quarterfinals with the Surfers and Youngbloodz, respectively, but it would be the All Blues hoisting the Cup at week's end. ​Carlyle also competed with the Seattle Saracens at the 2015 event.