San Diego and Seattle will play for a spot in the World Club 7s after winning their respective semi-finals. Both teams have been the best squads on the day and it’s no surprise that either have reached this point. However, their semi-finals opponents in Philadelphia and Denver were very tough and deserve a lot of credit.
Philadelphia had been the surprise story of the tournament riding a strong defense and solid decision-making on offense. The key to that was the fact that the team, which was comprised of mostly college players, came to Houston on Monday to train in the heat and humidity while most of the other teams arrived just a day before or the day of the tournament.
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Unfortunately that preparation wasn’t enough to overcome a strong San Diego side that looks the favorite to win the whole tournament. Will Holder has especially looked strong and ran the show against Philadelphia. Straight off the opening kick Holder grabbed the ball, feed to Nu’u Punimata who then found Mike Teo for the try. Ben Leatigaga then added the first of his three tries to the objection of Philly. Leatigaga and Andrew Locke scored before the half to make it 20.
San Diego won every battle in the match and punished any mistake Philadelphia made. They were also very impressive on set pieces. Philly did well at the end of the match to get back in it but two late tries from Chris Mattina and Winder only made the final score 27-14.
Seattle overcame a very tough Denver team in an intense final. Kevin Swiryn opened the scoring with two straight tries, the latter of which was set up by a strong run by Mike Palefau. Peter Tiberio hit two difficult conversion to make it 14-0. Like San Diego, Seattle were disciplined and punished mistakes.
Denver tried to make a move in the match but Seattle’s defense came up big on several occasions. Denver finally got on the board after John Cullen was sent to the bin and Denver scored on the restart. Malifa had tried to put in a chip but was hit late by Cullen. Denver probably could have had a penalty try but settled for the eventual score. Denver would get a late try to make the final 21-12 after Seattle scored again.
In the 5th-8th consolations matches Salt Lake beat D.C. 12-7. It capped off what was a very strong day for the team. Boston also beat Dallas 21-7 with tries from Jared Collinson and Marcus Henderson (twice.
The final will be San Diego vs. Seattle with the 3rd place match between Denver and Philadelphia.