A total of 18 people made up a tour party organized by Stephanie Paddock during the traditional Easter break this past week ending in our participation in the first ever women’s contact bracket of the Bermuda Sevens. The days leading up to the competition including team bonding activities on this beautiful island...

The group enjoyed each others company playing tennis, kayaking, swimming, running, sun tanning by the hotel pool. Some swam with dolphins, others went to the Aquarium, local attractions, etc...

tournament itself was played on the same pitch as the famed “World Rugby Classic” and was ran like clockwork. The New York women were entered under the tour name of “The Empire City Blues” and went one and one in bracket competition. The final was to be an all USA affair against NOVA, a team that prides themselves on a very good sevens program. The final really showed that we did not really travel with a sevens oriented team, but played with a lot of heart all the same to come in second. A highly recommended trip for next spring!

Bracket Game #1

The Empire City Blues vs. NoVa

2:50pm

1 DuBRAY, Carrie (i)

2 DENGLER, Molly

3 VIVOLO, Lara

4 WEIKMAN, Maura

5 BUSSMAN, Jenna ## (ii)

6 KUCHAR, Jenny

7 MacGOWAN, Rosalie (iii)

## 1st Game back from Injury!

(i) COLLIER, Annie

(ii) LAMAN, Caitlin

(iii) LONDON, Laura

Within two minutes Maura Weikman slid through the NoVa defense for an unconverted try and the lead. NoVa (featuring our new player, Kristen Campbell at Scrum Half) replied within two minutes to level the score. After half time, the game was an end to end battle that resulted in a penalty for the “Blues” that Caitlin (“Chaz Caitlin Caitlin”) slotted through the uprights for the lead. Just when we thought we had the game, Nova had an excellent reply providing the winning try. Rosalie MacGowan was sick with food poisoning most of the evening before and the morning of the tournament and could not perform anymore, so Stephanie (Frank the Tank) Paddock stepped up and filled the roster position for the rest of the day.

Bracket Game #2

The Empire City Blues vs. Bermuda Barbarians

4:10pm

1 COLLIER, Annie (i)

2 DENGLER, Molly (iii)

3 VIVOLO, Lara

4 WEIKMAN, Maura

5 KUCHAR, Jenny

6 PADDOCK, Stephanie ## (ii)

7 LAMAN, Caitlin

## 1st game back from injury

(i) DuBRAY, Carrie

(ii) BUSSMAN, Jenna

(iii) LONDON, Laura

Expecting an easy game, the Blues came out a little lethargic and let in a really nice try by the Bermuda team playing their first ever contact competition. We replied quickly and often with some truly brilliant tries led by Annie Collier after a brutal run from Lara Vivolo. The Empire City ladies scored a total of five tries (Collier-1, Vivolo-2 & Weikman-2)

And converted one (Laman-1) for a final score of 24-5.

FINAL

The Empire City Blues vs. NoVa

6:00pm

1 DuBRAY, Carrie (i)

2 DENGLER, Molly (iii)

3 VIVOLO, Lara

4 WEIKMAN, Maura

5 KUCHAR, Jenny

6 BUSSMAN, Jenna (ii)

7 LAMAN, Caitlin

(i) COLLIER, Annie

(ii) PADDOCK, Stephanie

(iii) LONDON, Laura

The FINAL did not exactly go our way. NoVa’s superior knowledge of the faster and more open sevens game was quickly obvious as they scored three converted tries in the first ten minute half. ECB tried to reply with a late try by Caitlin LAMAN, but the final score of 33-5 to NoVa was a fair overview of the game. Congratulations to NoVa, The Empire City Blues and the Bermuda Barbarians for a great event and hopefully the start of something very special at a spectacular venue for many Springs to come!.