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Belmont Shore capped a great weekend of Rugby Sevens and marched to their first National 7s championship, defeating holder’s Aspen 34-15 in Sunday’s final.

They were one of three teams heading into the Cup quarter-finals that had gone unbeaten on Day 1, alongside Denver and Aspen, but the SoCal side prevailed at Rocca Field in San Francisco.

In the championship match many anticipated a tight contest, but it didn’t start out that way. Belmont Shore were quicker to the breakdown and dominated possession in the early encounters.

It wasn’t long before they capitalised on their ascendancy as Riaan Hamilton was put through out wide and the former USA 7s captain sped to the corner for the opening try.

Sio scored the first of his three tries within minutes as Dallen Stanford skated sideways before popping a pass to the man who was awarded the coveted MVP title as he came in on a reverse angle to make the scores 12-0.

An almost carbon copy of his first, Sio was once again the beneficiary of Stanford’s skill and he crossed to make the score 19-0 – although this time he had to break through one tackle.

Stanford then showcased more of his Sevens experience and looped around Corey Blair to score his own try to make the half-time score 24-0. Sio completed his hat-trick early in the second half and the match appeared to be buried for the reigning champions.

Aspen had some respite when Belmont’s Nic Hawkins was sent to the sin bin, and they took advantage with Ryan Nichols scoring a quick-fire brace. Spencer Scott gave the Gentlemen a glimmer of hope, with their third try, but substitute Sinipati Uiagalelei dented any chances of a fight back thundering down the sideline to score in the corner for Belmont.

“Maybe we started flat,” said Aspen’s Jason Pye. “I know their preparation was good and they are a good team.”

Peter Sio, who had been impressive in the pool stages, added three more tries in the final and was subsequently awarded the MVP in the tournament acknowledged the team effort.

 “It’s nice to have this,” Sio said of his MVP trophy. “But it’s more important to have this,” he said, pointing to his champions medal. “This year it was all about team. It wasn’t one player over another, we all worked together. This year, we wanted it more.”

Belmont Shore had already beaten Life 19-7 in the quarters and Chicago Lions 14-0 in the semis whereas Aspen had overcome SFGG 26-10 and Old Blue 17-12 on their way to the final.

The SoCal team conceded just 29 points over the two days, 15 of which came in the final, and as Aspen’s Merritt Johnson pointed out at the end of Day 1, “Defence wins championships.”

On Day 1, Belmont Shore had won Pool B beating Chicago Griffins 40-0, Old Blue 14-0 and OMBAC 17-7. Aspen defeated Boston 17-7, Milwaukee 42-0 and Old White 26-5 to take Pool D.

In the third place play-off on Sunday Old Blue were defeated by Chicago Lions 14-7, although they had arrived without two of their best players in Marco Barnard and Troy Hall. Lions’ Brian Roony and Matt Dugutes scored the tries.

Old Blue had beaten the highly fancied at Denver 21-10 in the Cup quarter-finals and Chicago Lions beat Atlanta Old White 26-7.

All the players now turn their attention to next weekend’s All-Star championships to see if they will get selected for the tournament in New York.

Cup Quarter-finals:
Old Blue 21 Denver 10
Aspen 26 SFGG 10
Chicago Lions 26 Atlanta Old White 7
Belmont Shore 19 Life University 7

Cup Semis:
Aspen 17 Old Blue 12
Belmont Shore 14 Chicago Lions 0

3rd/4th play-off: Chicago Lions 14 Old Blue 7

Cup Final:
Belmont Shore 34 Aspen 15