Fallbrook middle school rugby team wins NorCal tournament

The Fallbrook High School girls rugby club, including the middle school team, made its first appearance at the Rugby NorCal Girls High School Invitational Tournament in Livermore, and the results included a championship for the middle school girls.

The Pleasanton Cavaliers and Danville Oaks clubs co-hosted the April tournament at Robertson Park. Fallbrook co-coaches Craig Pinnell and Marin Pinnell chose to play in this year’s Rugby NorCal Girls High School Invitational Tournament rather than in USA Rugby’s National Invitational Tournament which this year was at Middle Tennessee State University.

The last time the National Invitational Tournament was in the western United States was in 2012 when it was played at Stanford University, so the Rugby NorCal Girls High School Invitational Tournament was created to minimize travel for premier teams in the Western and Mountain time zones.

Fallbrook was one of eight teams in the high school division. Fallbrook, Danville and Pleasanton were joined by the Sacramento-based Amazons and Land Park clubs, the Mother Lode team which is based in the El Dorado County town of Cameron Park, the South Bay team from Carson and the Provo Steelers squad who made the trip from Utah. The high school division involved 15-a-side rugby, and the Warriors won their first game before losing twice.

The middle school girls played seven-a-side rugby. Fallbrook began play April 14, with a 46-0 victory over Danville. The halftime score was 29-0. Sevens rugby is called that because seven players from each team are on the field at one time, but sevens also utilizes seven-minute halves, or 14-minute games.

“They have a really high rugby IQ for their age group,” Craig Pinnell said of the team which had both first-year players and veterans. “They played well together.”

Jordyn Duncan, Tiahna Padilla and Julia Tippin each scored two tries. A.J. Haughey and Emily Weber had one try apiece. Liberty Benitez, Duncan and Padilla each kicked one conversion.

“It was a good start,” Pinnell said.

An April 14 match against Milpitas had a 22-0 halftime score and ended as a 39-0 Fallbrook win. Padilla had four tries and one conversion, Duncan scored one try and one conversion and Tippin and Brianna Beath had a try apiece.

Fallbrook concluded the April 14 competition with a 36-0 triumph against Elk Grove High School after building a 29-0 halftime advantage. Padilla had three tries and one conversion, Duncan scored one try and two conversions and Haughey and Weber each had one try.

An April 15 semifinal pitted Fallbrook against the Kahuku High and Intermediate School team from the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The 20-0 final score reflected 10 Fallbrook points in each half. Padilla scored three of the tries with Haughey crossing the try line once.

Although Fallbrook allowed points in the April 15 final against Elk Grove, the halftime score was 17-7 in Fallbrook’s favor, and the final score was 32-7. Benitez, who had been the only player without a try in Fallbrook’s first four games, scored two of them in the championship match. Padilla had a try and a conversion. Haughey, Tippin and Weber scored one try apiece.

“Overall we didn’t have a standout player,” Pinnell said. “As a group they just did really well.”

Fallbrook only took seven middle school players on the trip which began the night of April 13, so the team had no substitutes.

“That was pretty good for them,” Pinnell said. “I’m really happy with that.”

The 173-7 cumulative score included 31 Fallbrook tries compared to only one opponent try.

“They had the majority of possession, which is key in seven-a-side,” Pinnell said. “They worked well as a team. They worked off each other, with each other.”

The high school team included 18 players, giving the Warriors three substitutes. The two April 14 games were 35 minutes in length with no halftime to switch sides.

The high school portion of the tournament included Fallbrook opening with a 48-5 victory over Pleasanton High School. Sammy Stern scored three tries for the Warriors with Phoebe Anderson, Nathalie Celis, Sam Oksnee, Savannah Simmons and Natalie Weber each adding one try. Abby Savin kicked four conversions against the Cavaliers.

“It was a good start,” Pinnell said.

Fallbrook’s other April 14 match was a 5-0 loss to the Provo Steelers High School Rugby Club.

“It was a really tight game,” Pinnell. “It went all the way to the end.”

The Steelers’ try was scored near the end of the game.

“They were bigger and stronger than us, but we managed to hold them most of the time,” Pinnell said.

The April 15 game between Fallbrook and Land Park involved two 30-minute halves. Tries by Celis and Savin along with a Bella Devore conversion kick gave the Warriors a 12-10 halftime lead, but the Harlequins turned the deficit into a 24-12 victory.

“That was a tough game,” Pinnell said. “Land Park was just too good.”

Pinnell felt that the Rugby NorCal Girls High School Invitational Tournament provided his high school team with experience against high-level competition.

“We were playing against the top teams in the country,” he said. “It was a successful tournament even though we didn’t win.”