May 14-15, 1988: Atlantis Comes Close in Spanish 7s
(Atlantis tournament #13)
Emil Signes
May 1988
JUNE 2013
Note of June 2013: this is
from my version of an article I wrote in 1988.
Atlantis, one of the top US invitational 7s sides, outscored its
first 3 opponents in the Benidorm 7s, 78-4, before losing in the
quarterfinals, 10-6, to the eventual tournament
champions--the President's VII. The champions won their
semifinal and final matches with relative ease, and had Atlantis made one or two better decisions,
they would have surely won the championship themselves.
Small consolation perhaps, but still a testimony to the improving
quality of the Atlantis program.
May 1988:
Atlantis and Signes kids in Benidorm
Atlantis standing: Emil Signes,
Dave Bateman, Chris Schrichte, Joe Taranto, Chris
Albrittain, Chris Petrakes, Mike Brodie
Atlantis kneeling: Alec
Montgomery, Bill Hayward, Steve Burnham, Lawrence Erstich
Leftmost 4 people: my cousin
Julián Signes holding Rosana Signes; standing Antonio José
& Francisco Javier Signes (we were just down the coast
from my father's home town)
The Atlantis squad consisted of the following
personnel (name preceded by
Atlantis number):
Forwards:
35 Chris
Albrittain, Duck Brothers
15 Joe Taranto,
Union County
52 Chris Schrichte, Sudamericano
75 Lawrence
Erstich, vagabond (ex-Sudamericano)
Backs:
31 Chris
Petrakes, Maryland Old Boys
76 Bill Hayward,
Albuquerque Aardvarks
77 Alec
Montgomery, Mystic River
73 Dave Bateman,
Old Puget Sound Beach
74 Steve
Burnham, Maryland Old Boys
Mike Brodie of NYC was the manager and I was the
coach.
Left: Chris Albrittain (with
Steve Burnham and Chris Petrakes) brought the size;
Right: Joe Taranto
brought the sweetness
The entire squad made a tremendous effort and trained very hard on
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, including a practice match vs.
RAF/Cornwall, which Atlantis won handily.
In Saturday's preliminary matches, Atlantis easily defeated Ton
Mawr (Wales) and Atletico San Sebastian (Basque region of Spain),
24-4 and 24-0, respectively.
In the round of 16, Atlantis was again drawn against Ton Mawr,
whom they defeated 30-0.
The quarterfinal match, between Atlantis and the Presidents' VII,
was one of the two most exciting matches of the day. The President's VII, invited by the president
of the host Villajoyosa Rugby Club,
consisted mainly of London Scottish players, backed up by a
Blackheath player, a Cork Constitution (Ireland) player, and a
player from Elche (Spain).
Atlantis got off to a 6-0 lead by perfectly executing a "hit"
play, from flyhalf Bill Hayward to center Alec Montgomery back to
a looping Hayward, who then put wing Steve Burnham away for
an 80-yard try.
Late in the first half, however, after a sustained period of
tremendous Atlantis defense, the President's VII managed a try to
put the score to 6-4. With about a minute left in the match,
a 5-yard scrum to the host team was converted into a try, and they
led, 10-6. With no time left, the President's VII scrum half
missed a kick to touch, and Atlantis's counter-attack was within
one pass of scoring the winning try.
Despite our great disappointment, we realized that we were not
only capable of winning the tournament, but unfortunate not to
have done so, and are all awaiting another crack
at the championship.
All the Atlantis players were outstanding; special kudos to Bill
Hayward, who did an excellent job as captain, and converted all 14
tries.
Atlético San Sebastian won the Plate
Championship.
Scoring:
Atlantis 24 Ton Mawr I 4
Tries: Schrichte, Montgomery, Petrakes, Albrittain
Conversions: Hayward 4
Atlantis 24 Atlético San
Sebastian 0
Tries: Montgomery 2, Albrittain, Petrakes, (#4?)
Conversions: Hayward 4
Atlantis 30 Ton Mawr II 0
Tries: Bateman, Petrakes, Burnham 2, Schrichte
Conversions: Hayward 2
Atlantis 6 Presidents' VII 10
Try: Burnham
Conversion: Hayward
Atlantis's next foray will be into three 7s' tourneys in Scotland
in late August/early September, followed by an attempt to snatch
the Benidorm championship in 1989. The latter
may be preceded by a visit to the Canbourne 7s the previous week.
Atlantis in Gata de Gorgoa
Note of
2013: I find it hard to believe that I wrote this article in
1988 with no reference at all to perhaps the biggest reason I chose to visit this tourney:
its proximity to my father's home town. Now I will at least
give it a tiny mention. When we finally
won the Benidorm Sevens in 1995 I wrote even
more on that (see Return
to Valencia, but here are some memories of 1988.
My father was born in the town of Gata de Gorgos, Spain, and I have
had the fortune of visiting it
several times. Signes is as rare a name in Spain as it is in the US
(and in the US, every Signes family I have managed to find is from
Gata, most turn out to
be related). In
Gata de Gorgos, however, there are
more Signes than any other name; it was one of the
original families to repopulate the town in 1611 (probably
from the Balearic
Islands), after the Moriscos
were expelled in 1609.
At any
rate, one of my first
cousins owns a
bar-restaurant in Gata
and several
others live
there. I
took the team
there for a visit,
we saw the town,
went to a
"trinquet" for a
"pilota"
game (kind of a
poor man's
handball on a
jai-alai
type court),
and feasted
at Antonio's
restaurant
on
great paella
(Gata is
in the region
of Valencia,
the home of
paella).
At a party in
my honor in
February 2013
Bill Hayward
brought a
bunch of
pictures from
Benidorm &
Gata in 1988.
Here are a
couple.
Bill
Hayward &
Steve Burnham
picking
oranges in
what used to
be my father's
back yard
Among
the members of the Atlantis
party was my son
Stephen,
taking a break from
the rigors of high
school.
My son Steve and I, probably in Gata
Steve Burnham learning the strategy of Baby Bombo
Jumping into a card game of "truc" in Gata
(one of my father's favorite topics
of Gata life was on the strategy = deception of truc)
To be honest, I just jumped in for
the picture; my truc game is not
the greatest
Back in Benidorm:
Standing on the corner: Where are we going?
L to R: Chris Petrakes, Steve Burnham, Bill
Hayward, Alec Montgomery, Joe Taranto, Dave Bateman, Chris
Albrittain
We found this nice meal in downtown Benidorm
L to R: Steve Burnham, Bill Hayward, Chris Petrakes, Alec
Montgomery, Joe Taranto, Chris Albrittain, Emil Signes, Dave
Bateman
