Club 7s Nationals – Men’s Wrap-Up 2026

Club 7s is done and dusted, and WHAT a WEEKEND it was. If you didn’t get the chance to make it out to Madison this year, hopefully you were catching up on all the action online thanks to the multi-field streaming provided by Next Level Rugby and the USA Senior Club Council. If you didn’t catch any of the action, what on earth were you doing? Lucky for you, I’ve got a neat little summary of the weekend to catch you up to full speed, or refresh some of the smaller details if you were there and just overwhelmed by it all.

Here’s how it’s going to work- I’ve got all the results from the pools, those come first. From there the teams split into either the Bowl or the Cup quarterfinals. I’ll cover those in separate sections though all the games were happening at the same time. Both the Bowl and the Cup knockouts split further into the Plate and Shield, but I explain it all below, don’t worry. As always, these write-ups are coming from someone who was indeed at the tournament, but couldn’t watch every single game – so I infer a lot from the scores posted on the tournify app. If there’s mistakes, I apologize; not only am I human, but I’m a referee, and we make a LOT of mistakes. With that covered, let’s get into the action!

Starting off in Pool E, the talk was all about NOVA. Could they repeat their miracle run from last year? They faltered in that last qualifier of the year, was that a fluke or a sign of things to come? Well, NOVA put that chatter to rest with a 3-0 sweep of Pool E, cementing themselves as the top seed entering the Cup quarterfinals. It wasn’t a smooth ride though, the Denver Barbarians gave NOVA a scare in the second pool match, coming within a conversion in the 7-5 defensive battle. Surprisingly, the Barbos finished third in the pool, despite having a better point differential than the second-place finishers. The Detroit Tradesmen finished 2-1, thanks to their win over Denver in the first match of the day, 19-14. They followed that up with a 26-14 win over the Austin Blacks, but lost to NOVA 45-14. Still, a 2-1 record was enough to get them to the Cup quarters, relegating Denver to another year playing for 9th. The Austin Blacks finished 0-3, one of only two teams to do so in the Men’s pools. 

Over in Pool F we finally got our first chance to go to the tiebreakers (which proved a different challenge I will not address in this article, I am just here to write about the rugby), as three teams finished 2-1 at the close of pool play. The opening rankings of the tournament had the Bombers as #2, Schuylkill as #7, and Washington Athletic as #10. In the first round, WAC beat Schuylkill 24-19 while the Bombers dispatched Kansas City 31-7. In the second round, the Bombers made it 2-0 with their defeat of WAC, while Schuylkill got their first win over Kansas City by a decent margin. It was in the third round of pool play that things got interesting. WAC barely snuck by the KC Reds 19-12, while Schuylkill shocked St. Louis with a 19-17 win in the final minutes. That left Schuylkill, St. Louis, and WAC all with 2-1 records, leaving it to point differential to figure out who gets to go for the Cup versus the Bowl. This three way 2-1 pool split is arguably the worst thing that could happen coming out of pool play; a team could finish the tournament with a 5-1 record, and only get 9th place. Meanwhile the team they beat in pool play could also finish with a 5-1 record, and win the whole tournament. Now fortunately (spoiler alert), that didn’t happen here. But yikes, that would be a thorn in your side. In the end, St. Louis and Schuylkill both advanced to the Cup knockouts, while WAC and the KC Reds dropped down to the Bowl quarters.

In Pool G, results were mixed. #3 Old Blue topped #14 Eagle Rock 47-12, which was expected, but then #11 Beltway Elite edged #6 Invictus 19-17 to start their pool rounds out with an upset win. Old Blue made it two for two when they took down Beltway in round two, but then Eagle Rock woke up and stormed past Invictus 21-7. With the two lower seeds both 1-1, it would come down to the final match to determine who would advance to the Cup quarterfinals. Despite entering the tournament ranked 6th overall, Invictus had already lost their shot at a top 8 finish, and they hadn’t even played Old Blue yet. With all eyes on the Eagle Rock vs Beltway Elite match, Invictus pulled off the upset of the tournament, defeating New York Old Blue 24-21. A phenomenal win, but alas, a win that didn’t change anything for Invictus, who finished fourth overall in the pool. Eagle Rock and Beltway duked it out for the final Cup quarterfinal spot, with the kudos finally going to Beltway, who defeated the SoCal side by a final score of 24-12.

Our final pool of the tournament also finished in dramatic fashion, as all four teams entered the final pool round with a 1-1 record. Mystic River entered as the top seed in Pool H, fourth overall, with fifth-place Belmont Shore close behind. However, it only took us one pool round to determine that those rankings were not accurate, as the 12th place Austin Huns defeated Belmont 17-12 and the 13th place Apex defeated Mystic River 12-7. Talk about a mix-up. Maybe it was just a slow start to the day, as the top teams both came back to win their second pool games, Mystic over Austin and Belmont over Apex. This put all four teams in a precarious position, they all needed to win their final pool match of the day in order to advance to the Cup quarterfinals. Belmont Shore proved their dominance over Mystic River with a heavy 34-5 performance, while the Austin Huns advanced to their first top 8 finish since 2021 with a 28-17 defeat of Apex. Thanks to the Huns win over Belmont that morning, Austin took the top seed into the Cup quarters while Belmont snagged the second. Apex clinched the third seed overall, while Mystic River, who started this journey leading off Pool H, finished bottom of the table after pool play. 

With pool play out of the way, the top eight and bottom eight teams were assigned to their respective knockout stages. The bottom two teams in each pool would compete for the Bowl (9th), and if they lost the quarterfinals, the Shield (13th). Notable teams entering the Bowl quarterfinals included Washington Athletic Club, who finished third in Pool F, but with a 2-1 record, including a win over Schuylkill River. Mystic River was also a bit of a shocker to see, as they entered the tournament ranked fourth overall. Our final “big dog” in the Bowl knockouts were the Denver Barbarians, the defending Bowl champions from last year. 

With the exception of WAC vs Invictus, all the Bowl quarterfinals were played at the end of the day on Saturday, which meant that teams had to ramp up for a fourth match of the day, before they could go back to the hotel and recover. And let’s be clear, although these were the “bottom eight” teams, these were still eight of the top sixteen teams in the nation, which meant that there was no such thing as an easy match. Take our first Bowl quarterfinal for example; the Denver Barbarians vs Mystic River. I’m pretty sure that was a bronze medal match a few years ago. It certainly played like a bronze medal match, with each team scoring tries and pushing the scoreline higher and higher. In the end, Denver came out on top, final score 27-19. Apex took on the Austin Blacks, and Eagle Rock took on the Kansas City Reds, the only two men’s teams to emerge from pool play without a win. Unfortunately it didn’t get better from either side as they lost with almost identical scores – Apex defeating Austin 33-5, Eagle Rock over Kansas City 31-7. Early Sunday morning, WAC took on Invictus in our final Bowl quarterfinal, with Chicago-based Invictus scoring four tries to WAC’s one, advancing to the Bowl semis. 

With two matches left to play, Denver, Eagle Rock, Invictus, and Apex advanced to the Bowl semifinals while the Austin Blacks, Kansas City, WAC, and Mystic River all went into the Shield semifinals. We’re going to stick with the winners first and cover the Bowl; Apex taking on the Barbarians while Eagle Rock faced Invictus. Both games were nailbiters, and came down to a conversion kick difference to determine the winner. Eagle Rock topped Invictus 12-10 while Apex eked by Denver 19-17. With the defending Bowl Champs now out of the mix, it would come between Apex (3-2) and Eagle Rock (3-2) to figure out who would take home the last single-digit ranking up for grabs. Both teams scored twice in the Bowl final, and yet again it came down to accuracy off the boot to determine the winner. This is where Eagle Rock got their edge. Going two for two on conversion kicks, Eagle Rock took home the Bowl with a final score of 14-10. After entering the competition ranked 14th, the SoCal runners-up went undefeated on Day 2 to rise to 9th overall, with a final record of 4-2. Apex also rose, from 13th to 10th, with a final record of 3-3, upping the ante for the South champion next year. Invictus and Denver went head to head in the 11th/12th place ranking match, Denver narrowly winning that one by a conversion kick (again!), final score 14-12. This 11th place finish for Denver was a drop of two places from 9th, while Invictus fell six spots from 6th to 12th, finishing with a 2-4 record. Pretty wild when you consider that Invictus were the only team all tournament to deal a loss to New York Old Blue, who (spoiler alert) won the whole shebang.

In the Shield playoffs, Mystic River took on the Austin Blacks while WAC faced the Kansas City Reds. Luck did not change for either the Blacks or the Reds, who were simultaneously dealt their 5th loss of the tournaments; Mystic defeating Austin in a barnburner 28-19 semifinal while WAC pummeled Kansas City four tries to one, final score 24-7. This set up Mystic River and WAC in the Shield final, while either Austin or Kansas City would get their first win of the tournament in the Wooden Spoon game (15th/16th). Both matches were thrilling back and forth battles with a total of 18 tries scored across the four teams. Mystic took home the Shield over WAC by a score of 36-24, giving them a 13th place finish with a final record of 3-3, a decent fall from their starting rank of 4th. WAC finished 14th, a few spots down from their starting rank of 10th, also finishing with a 3-3 record. In the Wooden Spoon game, both Austin and Kansas City put everything they had on the line to finish the weekend with a win. In the end it was Austin, who slotted just one more conversion kick to take the win 26-24. This rose the Blacks from their starting rank of 16th to 15th, while Kansas City dropped from 15th to 16th. Again, I want to bring attention back to this – this is 15th and 16th in the entire country. There’s not really space to say these two teams didn’t bring their A-game; someone’s always gotta finish on the bottom of the table, and both Kansas City and Austin should be proud of their season performances, and their ability to battle the country’s best here in Madison.

Now we’ll move on to the top eight teams, who advanced from pool play to the Cup quarterfinals on Sunday morning. Possible Cinderella stories in this year’s top eight included the Austin Huns, who topped their pool with a 2-1 record after entering the tournament ranked 12th, Beltway Elite who entered with an 11th place ranking and a two-point win over Invictus (who were 6th), and the Schuylkill River Exiles who got a second chance after they were told they missed the cut on Saturday afternoon. 

The defending Champions NOVA continued the only undefeated Men’s streak left in the tournament with a quarterfinal win over last year’s Plate winners Belmont Shore. It was an unlucky draw for Belmont who finished second in Pool H due to their loss against the Austin Huns in game one of pool play. The final score was 17-12, with Belmont keeping NOVA under pressure the entire match, but NOVA closing it out strong to advance to the semis. The St. Louis Bombers confidently won their quarter over Beltway Elite, with a final score of 24-5. This was a rematch of last year’s 7th/8th place ranking game, which St. Louis also won, albeit with a closer scoreline. New York Old Blue bounced back from their last pool loss with a 26-5 win over the Schuylkill River Exiles, getting them one step closer to their ultimate goal of both XV and 7s National Championships in the same year. The final quarterfinal was the only upset of the four, with Pool E’s second place team, the Detroit Tradesmen, defeating the Austin Huns 19-7. The four winners would continue to advance to the Cup semifinals, while the losers went into the Plate semifinals, playing for fifth overall. 

I’ll cover the Plate first, and save the Cup knockouts for last. The Plate semifinals pitted the Austin Huns and Belmont Shore against each other for a thrilling Pool H rematch, while Schuylkill River took on Beltway Elite in a familiar Mid-Atlantic battle of the giants. Belmont flipped the results on Austin, running out to a strong 33-12 victory, while Beltway got their revenge on Schuylkill with a 15-14 edge over the Mid-Atlantic runners-up. Belmont were back in another Plate final, while Beltway had already guaranteed their rise in ranking after finishing 8th last year. The battle for 5th was a bit underwhelming, as Belmont Shore swept the floor with Beltway, scoring six tries to Beltway’s one, giving us a final score of 38-5. With a successful defense of the Plate, Belmont Shore added another trophy for their cabinet, but you can bet they’ll be back next year with sights set on a final four finish. Beltway Elite finished with a five-place boost in their ranking, ending at 6th overall after entering the tournament ranked 11th. 

Schuylkill River and the Austin Huns were left to battle it out for 7th and 8th place. It’s a tough place to be, neither team wants to be the team that loses all three matches on Sunday; everyone wants to finish with a win. It was a back and forth affair, with seven lead changes over the duration of the game. In the end it was Austin who sealed the deal, with a try at the death to take the win 29-28. Schuylkill dropped from their starting rank of 7th to 8th, while Austin finished higher than they entered, rising to 7th from 12th. Both teams finished far better than they did last year, when Schuylkill took 12th overall, and the Huns finished 15th; which is definitely a win for both sides. 

We’ll appropriately finish off with the Cup semifinals and finals. The top four teams were mostly expected to be there, with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ranked teams all reporting for duty. NOVA was the only team left with an undefeated 4-0 record, while Old Blue and St. Louis both had a single loss from their final round of pool play. Then, there was Detroit. The Tradesmen did it again; entering the competition ranked 8th overall, Detroit just refused to quit, their elite defense stifling even the best of teams. They had a mountain to overcome, with NOVA standing in their way in the semifinal, and although the final score didn’t fall in their favor, they sure put up a fight. A game-ending try pulled them within five points of toppling the champs, but it was too late. NOVA advanced to another National Championship, while Detroit went to play for the bronze, final score 19-14. In the other semi, Old Blue faced the Bombers, a game that proved a bit more heated than the Detroit/NOVA match-up. The Bombers managed to score a few tries, but they couldn’t hang with Old Blue, who raced to a 24-10 win at the final whistle.

The stage for the final two matches were set, Old Blue versus NOVA, and Detroit versus the Bombers. The final pitted the undefeated defending 7s Champions against the current National D1 XV Champions, and the stakes were high. The match itself was 14 minutes of exciting rugby, with both teams showcasing excellent skill and gamesmanship. When the whistle blew for full time, it was Old Blue on top, final score 17-12. With this win, New York Old Blue became the second club in USA Rugby history to win both the D1 XV and 7s National Championship in the same season (just three months apart). NOVA took home second place, a phenomenal finish after another excellent season. Detroit continued their dream run with a 19-10 win over St. Louis, claiming both the bronze medal and the clout for best in the Midwest after finishing third at the Midwest Championships. The changes in ranking for the top four were negligible, with the obvious exception of Detroit who rose from 8th to 3rd by the end of the tournament.