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US National Sevens champions, Belmont Shore RFC, taught a very young and inexperienced Mexican National Sevens team a rugby lesson in front of a good pre-season crowd at Cal State Long Beach last weekend.

Mexico had travelled north after playing against the Old Mission Bay Athletic Club (OMBAC) the previous day in San Diego. Dion Rameka, Mexico's Kiwi coach, is looking desperately to develop a squad for the upcoming NACRA tournament next weekend (14-15th). The winner of that tournament, which includes all the North American rugby unions outside of the USA and Canada, wins an automatic berth to the IRB flagship event in Las Vegas in February.

Even though Belmont was missing a handful of it's own national championship winning side, they still quickly got into a rhythm to make life very difficult for the Mexicans. With USA National MVP Peter Sio leading the side, and instruction by coach James Walker to play with width and structure, Belmont dominated right from the start. The young national side was clearly overawed at first with the fluidity, as well as the pace and power of players such as USA 7s Eagle Cory Blair (who has just joined the Eagle 15s squad the RWC Qualifiers), Sinipati Uiligelela and Nic Hawkins.

After the initial 10-minute halves in both games the Belmont starters were given bench time, which allowed for a slightly less lopsided match against their second stringers.

An after-match function was held at the iconic Springbok Bar in the beautiful Long Beach marina, where the players had a chance to mix and compare notes. Rameka, who had trained under Gordon Tietjens, was full of praise for the professional structure with which the National champions approached the scrimmages.

It is a testament to the development of the game in the United States and particularly at Belmont Shore RFC.

With national team players such as Matt Hawkins, Riaan Hamilton, Dallen Stanford and Justin Boyd still sidelined, Shore is certainly begging to raise some eyebrows.

To read more about the Belmont Shore Rugby Club click here.

Dallen Stanford played 54 matches for the USA 7s team throughout his career spanning from 2006 to 2009, including 13 IRB 7s tournament appearances. He was part of the Belmont Shore side that recently won the USA National Sevens competition.

www.pakiscorner.com

Read more from Dallen:

15-a-side duties affect USA 7s team
How the Olympics changes USA Rugby