SALEM, MA – This past weekend, the kids of Arlington Rugby Club headed up to the North Shore to compete alongside seven other youth rugby clubs from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island at the Witch City 7s tournament. In their second outing of the Summer campaign, Arlington went undefeated in pool play, notching wins against Mystic River and New England Rugby Club before moving on to the Quarter-Finals. A brace of tries would see Arlington avoid a knockout with another big win against NERC, and a spot in the Semi-Finals against Island Rugby out of Rhode Island. The game was a tight back and forth battle, neither team gaining the upper hand for very long. With just a few minutes left to play, Arlington was able to level the score, but an unfortunate set of turnovers would ultimately lead to an Island try to end Arlington’s run and a chance for hardware.
Would it have been nice to take home the cup? Absolutely. But medals and trophies aren’t why we play this game. We play it because we love it. As a coach, it’s to see these kids get better and better every game. To see them leading on the field by example, pick each other up when they’re down and giving it their all. They say there is no “I” in “team”, in rugby we say “15 makes 1” (or in this case 7). And we see these kids growing as a team more and more. A fine example of this was when one of the club’s a 6th graders made an open field run for a try. Instead of running it in and taking all the glory for himself, he turned and passed to one of our youngest (a 1st grader) to give him his first ever try. This is the true spirit of rugby, and this is why we play. Great job today Arlington!