NORTH AMERICAN INVITATIONAL 7S

Wild Atlantis vs. Grey Wolves Finish Highlights NAI 7s Girls Brackets

Wild Atlantis vs. Grey Wolves Finish Highlights NAI 7s Girls Brackets

It's hard to find any game as dramatic as the Girls Elite bracket matchup between Atlantis and the Idaho Grey Wolves at the North American Invitational 7s in Salt Lake City on Friday.

Aug 5, 2017 by Alex Goff
Wild Atlantis vs. Grey Wolves Finish Highlights NAI 7s Girls Brackets
It's hard to find any game as dramatic as the Girls Elite bracket matchup between Atlantis and the Idaho Grey Wolves at the North American Invitational 7s in Salt Lake City on Friday.

In the penultimate game of the day, the 2-0 Grey Wolves team, which turned out to be mostly players from Utah, ran out to a three-try halftime lead over 2-0 Atlantis, only to see Atlantis mount a remarkable comeback to win 26-20.

The Grey Wolves had entered three sides in the tournament, but player attrition made that promise a bit difficult to keep. Colin Puriri of the United program in Utah produced players to take the Elite bracket spot. It worked out nicely as the Wolves chomped on the Celtic Barbarians and the Land Park Harlequins to win their first two games.

Atlantis also won their first two games, behind the scoring touch of Clara Lemal-Brown, but their victories were nowhere near as emphatic as those of the Grey Wolves.

When the two side finally met, the Atlantis defense had no answer early on as the Wolves built a 15-0 lead behind scrumhalf Kathryn Stowers, Lewanda Aspinall, and Lua Stowers.

Coming out of halftime, Atlantis scored a nifty try around the weak side of the scrum by Ariana Ramsey, but the Wolves replied to make it 20-7.

That's when the fun began. Ramsey blazed down the sideline to score her second, which was converted to make it 20-14. Suddenly there seemed there might be enough time for a comeback. Lemal-Brown finally got some space and put the pedal down to score in the corner. And then, Atlantis made the crucial decision to not kick for the conversion. The try had been in the corner anyway, and while the score was 20-19, they reasoned they needed the time to go for one more try.

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While it was a smart move, it failed due to poor execution. The Grey Wolves got the ball back when the restart didn't go 10 meters, and. Still needing to run out the clock, Idaho worked its way down to the Atlantis tryline. That's when Atlantis stole the ball from the ruck, and spun it to Kate Buzby, who took off, beat a tackler, and kept her legs moving. The San Diego Aztec had just enough pace to hold off Charity Tenney, as both went on a 98-meter chase for the game-decider. Buzby just made it, crashing over with Tenney on her back to score.

It was a dramatic and thrilling ending and a perfect microcosm of how exciting 7s can be at the top level.

Atavus and Grey Wolves are 2-1 with two more games to play on Saturday before the final placement matches. Atlantis, with the win, isn't guaranteed a spot in the final but is very close.

Utah Lions and Land Park are both 1-2, with Celtic Barbarians 0-3.

In Girls U18s open, Valley Panthers and Mambas both went 3-0. In the U16s, the Land Park Harlequins have played a solid team game and unleashed some athleticism too to go 3-0.

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