Lindenwood University wrapped up a dominant weekend at the USA Rugby College 7s Championships by capturing national titles in the DI men's and Open women's brackets in Glendale, CO, on Sunday. Following a 31-12 victory by the Lions women's team over rival Life University, the Lindenwood men's squad completed the sweep by rolling to a 26-5 win over Saint Mary's.

The Lions men went from strength to strength through the weekend, playing a physical brand of sevens that involved delivering thumping tackles and punishing opponents for turnovers. On offense, they moved the ball quickly but didn't always worry too much about a wide game. Instead, Lindenwood was content to find the nearest gap, exploit it, break tackles, and work the offloads.

Mickey Bateman, the shifty Christian Rodriguez, Nick Feakes, and a variety of talented athletes helped the Lions shut out Bowling Green 42-0 (two tries from Feakes) in the quarterfinals and Utah 33-0 (tries from Rodriguez, Fakes, Bateman, Sam Chapman, and Wesley White) in the semifinals.

While the Lions outscored their opponents 87-5 in pool play, Saint Mary's was also impressive in the tournament's early stages, defeating Grand Canyon 36-5 behind three tries from Dylan Audsley and Davenport 40-12 behind two tries apiece from Audsley and Aaron Matthews.



But the final was almost all Lindenwood. Saint Mary's looked a little tired as the toll of the long 15s season might have started to show. But Lindenwood looked spry and aggressive, and the Lions were excellent on defense in holding the Gaels to just five points. After adding tries from Giovanni Falco, White, Rodriguez, and Chapman in the championship match, Lindenwood brought its tournament scoring tally to 188 points and allowed just 10 overall. 



Davenport defeated Utah in impressive fashion for third, while the hard-luck team of the weekend might well have been Arkansas. The Razorbacks went 2-1 in pool play but lost out on a Cup quarterfinal bid thanks to a three-way tie in their pool and losing the tiebreaker. But still, Arkansas played well and ran the table on Sunday, beating Kansas State, Stanford, and Texas A&M to finish 5-1 and ninth overall.

"We were successful in our one-on-one matchups offensively and defensively," Arkansas captain Jack Casey said. "Our ball handling was solid during the wet conditions, which helped a lot in the first day. We struggled with yellow cards, but while we have had seven players on the field we have been doing pretty well."

Final Placement for Men's DI 7s

1. Lindenwood
2. Saint Mary's
3. Davenport
4. Utah
5. Bowling Green
6. Grand Canyon
7. Florida International and Ohio State
9. Arkansas
10. Texas A&M
11. Stanford
12. Fordham
13. Santa Clara
14. JMU
15. Kansas State and Wyoming