The North American Lions arrived in Paris for the Tournoi des Capitales on Tuesday the 10th of Sept with 12 girls from the US and Canada representing multiple clubs, Provincial teams, and Academy programs with the goal of being able to play top level national teams and clubs as part of the development program instituted by the NAHS7s circuit. Those girls, captained by Atlantis player Nina Mason and Upright’s Reese Morgan, would soon go one to prove themselves a formidable side as they competed in TdC. With 5 Canadian and 7 American players coming from the top academy program competing in the circuit, the coaches and players did not quite realize the depth they had and the eventual juggernaut they would become.

Coaches Josie Ziluca of Atlantis Rugby and Orlando Pulou of the Utah Rugby Academy would have their first assembly with the girls 4 hours after landing in Paris. Knowing they had a skilled group that would need to bond to form a team, the coaches went straight to work with games to get the girls knowing each other. It became apparent very quickly just how skilled the players were but the timing and communication issues demanded a focus on them feeling comfortable with each other.  Dinner as a team that night plus a little free time before bed allowed the girls time to start that bonding that is so critical to playing against teams who have been together for weeks or even years. 

Day 2 saw the jet lag set in. Morning was a team building event with a bike ride through the older parts of Paris and then an afternoon session at the Universitaire fields of the Paris University Club saw the potential beginning to gel. They began to operate as a unit but there were still timing issues on the various lines, switches, and redirections that really stifled the creativity of the players and led to some frustration within the team. Knowing that the team was in the storming phase of growth , the coaches worked getting the frameworks in place and did not focus on the issues they hoped would work themselves out.  For fun, after their second training session, the girls jumped in with a bunch of u6 and u8 players for a training session with them and it was an absolute blast and thrill for all. 

Early Thursday morning, the team headed out to the French National training center in Marcoussis, France on the outskirts of Paris. The first training session was with the French Academy program Director Thomas Darrac. He was able to let the girls experience other coaching techniques as well as work on polishing the attack and defensive structures. Mr. Darrac said “ These girls are most definitely skilled players. They have vision for the game. There are a few who I expect to see in the future”.  The girls would have one more training session prior to game days to get the final kinks out.  They would also be able to experience a private boat cruise down the Seine where pools for the tournament were drawn by several legendary French players including Jean Pascal Barraque. 

Day 1 would see the Lions play 4 pool matches. The Lions drew France, Hong Kong, Germany and Russia in their pool. The first match would be a difficult one against. Malia Isaacs from Utah would make the first try against France with a break on the outside after moving across the field twice spreading the French defense. Chloe Daniels would taking the conversion kick to make the score 7-0. The Lions would control much of the first half with several counter rucks resulting in positive field position. Malia Isaacs would score twice and convert once where at the half the Lions would be up 12-0 over France. Second half would have the Lions receiving the kick. Chloe Daniels would score the first try of the second half putting the Lions up 17-0 over France but France would finally turn on the burners and score to make the score 19-7 for the Lions. Reese Morgan would score the Lions last try of the game  and would make the score 26-7 against France. France as the final seconds waned would put one more score down for a final score of 26-14 in favor of the Lions.

Game 2 would have the Lions playing the Russians. Russia would score first on the Lions after evading some 5-6 tackles. The girls got their heads into the game and turned up the heat after Russia put up a 5-0 lead. Victoria Stanley would score a hat trick in the game against Russia. At the half the Lions would lead 21-5. Russia would also score first in the second half but that would be the last time. In addition to Vic Stanley’s hat trick , Liz Tafuna, Sophia Linder, Nina Mason, with final score 40-10.

Game 3 against Hong Kong proved at difficult one.  The first game after lunch and the girls would come out a bit slow. Hong Kong, however, had a near perfect game. The Lions would be plagued by ball handling and not being able to win their own scrums. Hong Kong would score first  but it would be answered immediately by Victoria Stanley with a try on the restart. The conversion would fail which would put HK over the Lions 12-5 at the half. The second half would be more of the same with handling errors and scrummaging issues plaguing the Lions. HK would put up 2 more tries to the Lions one and we would see the end of the match with HK 26-12 Lions. HK would score twice off of scrum errors by the Lions.

The Lions would take their frustrations out on Germany in the last game of pool play. Isabella Ruse would score the first try off of the restart but Marley Parkinson would miss the conversion. Ari Moleni would score the second try and another missed conversion would make the score 10-0. Germany would score shortly after to make it 10-5. Sofia Linder would score after the half to push the Lions further ahead of the Germans and would make the score 20-5. Sofia Linder would put up another try after the game restarted due to an injury . That conversion was good and would put the Lions further up Liz fauna would add another 5 points to the line with a final conversion and a final score of 27-5. The girls would end 3-1 on the day in pool matches.

The down side was that HK would lose to France and force a 3 way tie in the pool . With only two teams heading into the cup round from each pool, the Lions would find themselves in 3rd by 12 points and would soon rue the poor conversion rate of pool play as they were forced into the plate playoffs. 

Day 2 would have the girls beat two relatively weak teams to secure the challenge trophy ( plate). They would beat a French side from Burgundy (Saoene et Loire) and Romania to secure the challenge trophy. While the girls were not overly excited to have gone 5-1 and still only gotten to 5th place, they did see some great competition and had a tremendous time. They made great friends and met new people which is part of that rugby ethos. The Lions will return in 2021 to try and take the Cup. 

NA Lions are

Captain: Nina Mason (Atlantis) - Doylestown Rugby Academy 

Captain Reese Morgan (Upright)

Malia Isaacs (Utah)

Arianna Moleni (Utah)

Chloe Daniels (Upright)

Sophia Linder (Atlantis) - Doylestown Rugby Academy 

Makenna Tuman (Atlantis) - North Pitt United 

Victoria Stanley (Upright )

Isabella Ruse (Upright)

Elizabeth Tafunua (Utah)

Madison Donnelly (Upright)

Marley Parkinson (Utah)