Local high school, collegiate rugby stars show stripes at national tournament

Photo courtesy of Moth Martinez-Faccio##Panthers load up for a scrum against the Beaverton Barbarians during a 15s match at Western Oregon University on Saturday, March 17. The game was played between college matches, where former Panthers, now playing for WOU, competed for national qualifiers.

The Valley Panthers girls rugby club played their first full-length 15s match against the Beaverton Barbarians at Western Oregon University on Saturday, March 7.

The two high school squads battled it out between matches of the National College Rugby 7s national qualifier tournament.

Senior Panther Saira Vipperman scored off an early breakaway to help the Panthers find a lead.

Then the Barbarians pillaged on offense, notching a 17-7 lead.

Vipperman slithered through the defense and ran in for another try to get her team within five of Beaverton.

As time trickled down before halftime, the Barbarians took to the wing and tried to get around the Panthers’ defense. The crowd shrieked at an unnoticed forward pass that occurred on the wing, and Beaverton scored to take a 22-19 halftime lead.

The Barbarians jumped to a 41-26 lead, but the Panthers would find a hole in the defense and blow by for a try to trail 41-31 with 16 minutes left. The Panthers crossed the try zone again to cut the deficit to three. But just as before, with the Panthers a breath from taking the lead, the Barbarians lived up to their name.

The orange and black Beaverton jumper conquered the pitch in the last nine minutes, scoring twice.

With just under four minutes left on the clock, the Barbarians gained possession off a scrum and thundered to score the try, leading 51-38.

The Panthers answered, and 90 seconds later crossed the try zone, 51-43. The Yamhill County club had another advance but fell just shy of scoring and time was called.

The Panthers fell 51-43.

Panthers Head Coach Christine Bader credited two of their brand-new players for their efforts: McMinnville High School freshmen Adri Acevedo, for making two big tackles in the second half; and Kamille English, for a number of strong runs.

Again this season, the Salem Snapping Turtles have merged under the purple Panther banner since neither team had enough athletes for 15s.

Bader said there is tendency in Oregon rugby to prefer 15s as it is rugby at its “truest form,” but currently the numbers aren’t there.

“Some teams start at 18 and by the end of the season, they’re like 12,” she said. “So, what we are going to do is track what happened and see how many played. And so, we’ll see by the end of season, we will make a data driven decision,” Bader said.

The Portland Grackles and Bend’s Summit Storm have consistently fielded enough players for 15s. Previously, several Portland-based clubs merged into the Grackles.

Bader said what happens often is coaches see how many players they have and on game day decide how many go on the field. Instead of cancelling the match, teams will play 10s or 12s when they don’t have 15 players.

In the college landscape, WOU’s women had six Panther alumni on their ten-player roster, two of whom were named forward and back of the tournament: Pricila Soto Trujillo and Leah Vipperman.

WOU lost in the finals to MiraCosta College from San Diego, 32-5.

MiraCosta put on a masterclass. The squad constantly found holes in the defense and attacked the try zone. They tackled hard and pushed through rucks, swiping the ball from the Wolves hands.

The San Diego squad had an early break scoring in the first 45 seconds. They were consistently aware that the clock was only seven-minute halves and didn’t waste a second, leading 20-0 at half.

The Wolves will have another shot at earning a bid to nationals in Colorado next month.

Meanwhile, the Panthers are well rested and will need to refreshed, as they then have league games every Saturday. They’ll host Canby at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 4, at Duniway Middle School.