South finds their 7s qualifiers

Article by Brian Cole | originally published at usarugby.org

Photo courtesy of the Georgia Games

After a tightly fought Music City 7s stop last weeekend, the South were half way through their qualifying season, and with only one spot available for the men and two for the women it was all there to play for. In the Men's group going into Saturday Atlanta Old White were in the pole position and looking to seal their spot on the national stage. For the women it was the Atlanta Harlequins and Phoenix that were in position to qualify for the nationals in August, but with neither team having already qualified, they couldn't take anything for granted. ​

Men's Qualifiers
Atlanta Old White got off to a hot start in Pool play as they were able to run through their opposition with relative ease. They came up against Legion of Doom Rugby first and put put them away winning 26-12, they then finished pool play off by beating Memphis, in another resounding win, 31-14. They qualified for the semi final where they would take on the runner-up of Pool B. 

Pool B was a much more tightly contested pool, with the positions one through three determined via point difference after the top three teams all finished with a 2-1 record. However due to their big wins against Alpharetta and Optimus, Southern Pines finished on top. They were followed in a close second by Charlotte, and Optimus despite only losing once in the pools was forced to play for 5th. 

The semifinals were two lopsided affairs. Old White handed Charlotte their second loss of the day courtesy of a 31-14 scoreline, while Southern Pines advanced to the final after disposing of Legion, 43-14. The stage was set for a win and your in match up between Old White and Southern Pines. In the end Southern Pines ran out of gas and Old White were able to cruise to victory after a devastating first half performance. Old White advances to nationals after beating Southern Pines 31-5 in the Georgia Games final. 

Women's Qualifiers
With two spots on offer, teams had a bit more leeway in the women's qualifiers, but that didn't mean that it was going to be any easier for them. In pool play the Atlanta Harlequins advnaced through pool play, to advance to the final but more importantly given their results in the Music City 7s Tournament, they advanced through to Nationals. Their opponent in the final would be Phoenix, who despite some tightly contest matches were able to pull through into the final as well. Their appearance in the final also secured their spot on the national stage. Atlanta repeated their efforts from Pool Play in the Final and came out on top of Phoenix 17-10 in the final. 
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