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The final two spots for this year’s US Nationals were decided at the weekend as the Pacific Coast 7s championship brought a close to the all important qualifiers.

Although no final took place and only four teams entered, it was the best two teams on the day, Tempe and SFGG, who qualified for the Nationals and will head to San Francisco for the tournament which begins on August 15.

All teams decided to forego the semi finals and final and, as it was, Tempe were declared the number one seed due to their 24-14 victory over SFGG in the round-robin.

The Tempe side had a mixture of players from various backgrounds. Stevie Johnston, Tai Enosa and Sean Treacy were all recent USA U19 or U20 players, and Enosa also had added experience with the USA 7s and national teams.

“I think we surprised some people,” said head coach Salty Thompson, who coached his son on the day. “We played terribly against Old Puget Sound but we won the must-win game over Olympic Club. So we’re pretty excited to go to the Nationals.”

Despite losing 28-5 to OPSB, veteran Rick Darrow provided plenty of experience and leadership, and with ex-Samoa Sevens full back Kueli Danielson helping to anchor the side, Tempe came through 26-21 against Olympic.

SFGG secured their second seeding and a place in the US Nationals with victories over Olympic and OPSB, 21-17 and 26-7 respectively.

There had been a little controversy at the start of the day, however, as the Hawaii Islanders team travelled to Arizona to attempt to qualify for the Nationals, only to be told something had gone wrong with their registration, and ended up competing in the Open division.

At the Nationals the following 16 qualifiers from the seven regions around America will initially compete in four pools.The qualifiers are:

Western RFU
Gentlemen of Aspen
Denver Barbarians
Glendale Raptors

Southern RFU
Life
Atlanta Old White

Pacific RFU
Tempe
SFGG

Mid-West RFU
Milwaukee
Chicago Lions
Chicago Griffins

North-Eastern RFU
Old Blue
Boston

Mid-Atlantic RFU
NOVA
Schuylkill River

Southern California RFU
OMBAC
Belmont Shore