As 7s continues to grow across the United States more and more tournaments are cropping up. Some of those tournaments, like the Cape Fear 7s, New York 7s, RugbyTown Sevens, etc., have already asserted themselves as major tournaments. You can now add the Sunsplash 7s to that list. The tournament is being organized by Belmore Shore and is sponsored by Canterbury. The focal point of the tournament is the SoCal qualifiers--it's the third of four--but the tournament has ambitions to become much larger than that and is already on pace to become one of the biggest 7s tournaments in California.
One aspect that Belmont is hoping to give the tournament an advantage is the venue. The tournament is set to be held at Irvine Great Park in Orange County. It has six full sized pitches that should be in solid condition at the time the tournament kicks off. In addition to the rugby pitches the park has plenty of other activities for families, including picnic tables, a kids carousel, and a balloon ride.
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For Belmont Shore the idea was to make the venue more attractive than to just rugby fans. According to assistant coach Aaron Kuehn "Belmont Shore recognize the importance of making rugby more attractive to the wider population and so the decision to move to a more family orientated venue was taken. We believe, coupled with the exciting rugby promised & the facilities available, we will grow the game, reach out to more people & make the Sunsplash 7’s the premier rugby tournament in the US over the next few years." The tournament is expecting near 40 total teams this year.
As mentioned the main attraction of the tournament is the SoCal qualifier. Through two tournaments Santa Monica lead the series with 41 points. Belmont Shore is right behind them with 35 points. Santa Monica took home their own qualifier a few weeks back and looked good. For anyone who followed the team in the PRP seeing Santa Monica excel isn't that much of a surprise. They had strong backs in Dave Martini, Mathieu Lesgourgues, and others that translates well to 7s.
Belmont Shore has been one of the best 7s sides in Southern California over the last few years. Led by head coach Peter Sio they probably should be leading the standings but lost to Old Aztecs in the quarterfinals of the Santa Monica 7s. Playing at home they should probably be considered favorites. However, they will be missing several players who are with the Eagles training at the OTC in San Diego.
The top two teams in the four stop series head to nationals. That means for teams like Pasadena (30 points), LA Rugby (29), Oceanside (27), Old Aztecs (27), and Tempe (27) they need a big tournament to catapult themselves into contention. OMBAC are further down the table but with PRP MVP Zach Pangelinan they have the ability to threaten.
All in all it should be a strong weekend of rugby for players and fans. With the U.S. looking to bolster their 7s team and with the talent available in Southern California it makes for a good weekend to head out to the park.