December 1995: Atlantis at Caribbean Sevens in Trinidad and Tobago

(Atlantis Tournament #44)
Emil Signes
December 6, 1995
JUNE 15, 2013 (rev. August 27, 2013)

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Atlantis Scottish after Final
Top, L to R: Bill Russell, Ron Faulkner, Vince Granger, John Flamish, Keith McLean, Rob Anna, Emil Signes
Bottom, L to R: Mike Mullen, Tom Liddle, Dennis Peyroux, Kevin O'Connell, George Miller
You can tell the seven who played most of the game
I got muddy because I joined the players and dove through a tunnel formed by the Maple Leafs after the game

June 2013: this is the article as I submitted it to Rugby; an edited version appeared in the December 1995 issue.

Rugby Canada Maple Leafs defeat Atlantis to win Caribbean Sevens

In a marathon (32 teams, 8 games to win) tournament played in drenching rain and muddy fields, a very talented, national level Canadian invitational side outlasted one of two Atlantis sides 20-12 to come away with the championship.

The team fielded by the Canadian Maple Leafs in the final comprised five Canadian sevens internationals ( Al Charron, Winston Stanley, Gregor Dixon, Paul White, and Roy Wheeldon). Atlantis, nevertheless, was in the game with a chance to win (down 12-15 with the ball) when a Gregor Dixon interception in the last minute added the insurance try.

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad is one of the two islands of the nation of Trinidad and Tobago, independent of British rule since 1962. The southernmost of the Caribbean islands, Trinidad is located just 7 miles off the Venezuelan coast, and is geologically an extension of South America.

The population is ethnically mixed, with major roots in Africa, India, Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and China, and all possible mixtures of the above. English is the official language, although the distinctive Caribbean accent makes it sometimes difficult for Americans to understand.

The tournament was held on the grounds of Fatima College in Port of Spain, the capital. The temperature was about 80 degrees both days: it was partly sunny on Saturday, but Sunday saw ceaseless field-wrecking rain.

The Caribbean Sevens

This was the ninth year of the tournament, and certainly the most competitive. Four-time champions, the Scottish Border Reivers, went in as tournament favorites, but the those “in the know” had to reckon that the Canadians were the team to beat. Atlantis’ potential was recognized early on, and no one was discounting last year’s champion, Trinidad Carib (Terrence Titus’s old club).

Other entries from outside the Caribbean area included the Bank of Ireland, the Canada Nomads, New Orleans, Tamarac (Florida), and the Japan Dread Lions.

South America was represented by Venezuela and Guyana, and Caribbean nations that sent teams included Bermuda, Turks & Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Barbados, St. Lucia, and Martinique.

One of the crowd favorites was Rainbow, a Rastafarian team from the south of Trinidad, whose pre-game warmups consisted merely in partaking of the sacred ganja. They made it through their first day bracket before being finally eliminated.

Atlantis

It was at the All Star Sevens this year that Bill Gonsalves brought up the idea of an overseas tour for the very last East sevens team ever, and the first invitation went out to all members of that squad. In the end, only four participated, and the squad was filled out with 12 players in attendance at the East Sevens camp that weren’t selected. Six others filled out the squad of 22 (two squads of 11).

Rather than break down the side into “A” and “B” teams, we formed two roughly equal sides, Atlantis Scottish, captained by Scot Bill Russell, and Atlantis English, by Englishman Drew Fautley.

The squads were pretty well divided among the new regions of the former East: NRU (6), MARFU (9), and SRU (7). Eighteen of the players were making their first Atlantis tour, with Bill Russell, Keith McLean, John Flamish and George Miller the only veterans. There was some, but not a lot, of international experience on the squad: Russell and Flamish have represented the US in sevens, and Al Caravelli represented Argentina in Hong Kong in 1981. Tom Liddle, a Canadian at Life College, has been invited to the Eagle 15s camp in Long Beach this month.

Atlantis #, Name, Club, Territory

Atlantis English
267 Al Caravelli, Old Blue, NRU
268 Scott Davis, Phila/Whitemarsh, MARFU
207 Drew Fautley, New York, NRU
199 Brian Geraghty, Life College, SRU
269 Kevin Gitting, Maryland Exiles, MARFU
247 Jeff Hollier, Virginia, MARFU
270 Jason Maloni, Maryland Exiles, MARFU
202 David Peyroux, Life College, SRU
244 Ryan Peyroux, Life College, SRU
134 Greg Schor, Life College, SRU
223 Jason Wood, Phila/Whitemarsh, MARFU

Atlantis Scottish
245 Rob Anna, Rochester, NRU
176 Ron Faulkner, Maryland Exiles, MARFU
78 John Flamish, Phila/Whitemarsh, MARFU
271 Vince Granger, Maryland Exiles, MARFU
272 Tom Liddle, Life College, SRU
123 Keith McLean, Phila/Whitemarsh, MARFU
237 George Miller, Charlotte, SRU
273 Mike Mullen, Worcester, NRU
274 Kevin O’Connell, Hartford, NRU
243 Dennis Peyroux, Life College, SRU
102 Bill Russell, Old Blue, NRU

The team was accompanied by two nonplayers -- I went as coach and Bob Bogen, the organizer of the Cape Fear Sevens, as manager.

Agenda

Great welcome! From all parts of the East we met on Wednesday night in Miami and flew to Trinidad together. There we were met by members of our host club, GF United, where we were immediately treated to a beer before even leaving the airport parking lot.

We practiced twice on Thursday and once Friday, and everyone was focused and worked hard. It was apparent early that the team had great chemistry and this was confirmed at the two rookie shows and many court sessions that we had. We visited Maracas Beach, a long ride over torturous mountain roads, and a flea market where we were all required to buy “stupid looking” shorts, but besides that and a couple of beers here and there it was mostly business.

We stayed at the world’s only “upside down” hotel, the Hilton. Built on a hillside, the lobby is at the top, and you have to take elevators down to the rooms (the lobby was 3, and 12 was the bottom floor, but I swear there were floors missing . . . )

Games

Round 1. The tournament begins at 9:00 AM on both days, and is played on two adjacent fields. Each of the 32 teams plays three pools games and on the second day, the top two teams in each division again get put into pools of four; the winners meet in the semifinals. The third and fourth place teams of Saturday’s pools compete for the Plate in single elimination.

Both Atlantis teams easily got through their Saturday pool matches, with a combined score of 211-17 in the six matches they played. Probably the toughest match was between Atlantis Scottish and Rob Lumkong’s old team, Norbucks, won by Atlantis 17-5.

Disaster struck, however, in the first minute of our first game, as our squad captain Bill Russell broke his finger and took no further part in the action. Having Bill available in the final would have been nice.

Round 2. It seemed clear from the first day that the four top teams in the tournament were the Scottish Border Reivers, the Canadian Maple Leafs, and the two Atlantis sides. As it turned out, however, not all four could get into the semifinals, as Atlantis English and the Reivers were in the same pool.

In the pool decider, Atlantis won a mud bath game in which both tries were scored off OMEX-designed “back row” plays, as hooker Jason Maloni picked up and went left, then right, from the scrums for a 12-0 lead. Atlantis then held on for a 12-7 win.

Atlantis Scottish surprisingly had its hands full with the Trinidad Defense Force, and barely squeaked to a 17-12 win.

The Maple Leafs finally met a tough opponent in Carib, the defending champions, but brushed them off en route to a 24-5 victory.

Semifinals. Again, the draw was a difficult one for Atlantis: while Team Canada got to play Martinique, whom Atlantis had beaten by 40 points on Saturday, the two Atlantis teams had to take on each other. In a no-holds barred contest, a Mike Mullen score broke a 14-14 tie with almost no time left.

Atlantis Scottish		Atlantis English
John Flamish	1	Drew Fautley
George Miller (T)	2	Jason Maloni
Ron Faulkner	3	Greg Schor
Tom Liddle	4	Al Caravelli
Mike Mullen (T,3C)	5	Scott Davis (2C)
Dennis Peyroux	6	Brian Geraghty (T)
Rob Anna (T)	7	Ryan Peyroux (T)

The Maple Leafs defeated Martinique 26-0.

I only have one squad picture from the beginning of the tournament, and that seems to have been taken before everyone was ready. I'm including it, however, to note the difference between Saturday and Sunday.

Atlantis English prior to play - Saturday
Top, L to R: Bob Bogen, Scott Davis, Jason Maloni, Jason Wood, Ryan Peyroux, Greg Schor, Emil Signes
Bottom, L to R: Kevin "Verb" Gittings, David Peyroux, Jeff Hollier, Drew Fautley, Brian Geraghty, Al Caravelli

English after SF

Atlantis English Following Semi-Final - Sunday
Top: Drew Fautley, Jason Maloni, Greg Schor
Bottom: Kevin Gittings, Brian Geraghty, Scott Davis, Dennis Peyroux

Final. The Maple Leafs went ahead 5-0 with a Winston Stanley try following a poor kicking decision by Atlantis, but a late John Flamish score off Atlantis pressure defense made the half time score 5-5. After spotting the Canadians 10 points on tries from Stanley and Wheeldon (a crucial interception that nearly sealed the game), Atlantis came back with another Flamish try from a scrum, and Mike Mullen’s conversion made the score 12-15. Atlantis got the ball back in injury time, but another interception finished the scoring and made the final score 20-12 to the Maple Leafs.

Atlantis Scottish		Canadian Maple Leafs
Keith McLean	1	Al Charron
John Flamish (2T)	2	Gregor Dixon (T)
Ron Faulkner	3	Paul White
Tom Liddle	4	Mike Doyle
Mike Mullen (C)	5	Bruce Jordan
Dennis Peyroux	6	Roy Wheeldon (T)
Kevin O'Connell	7	Winston Stanley (2T)

The Canadians, coached by George Jones of the Velox Valhallians, finished the tournament with 45 tries for, 3 against (301 points to 17), including the final. Winston Stanley led the tournament with 11 tries. Their leading scorer was Bruce Jordan with 65 points (5 tries, 20 conversions)

Atlantis Summary

Atlantis Scottish’s 8 game total: 37 tries, 235 points, to 12 tries, 61 points. Their leading scorer (and I believe the tournament’s leading scorer) was Mike Mullen with 6 tries, 19 conversions, 68 points. Their leading try scorer was Tom Liddle with 8.

Atlantis English’s 7 game total: 31 tries, 199 points, to 6 tries, 42 points. Their leading scorer was Scott Davis with 1 try and 18 conversions. Jason “Pee Wee” Maloni led the try parade with 6.

I can state categorically that this was a fun squad to coach, and the fear I had of taking a 15s’ size squad on tour was immediately dissipated with their dedication to performing well and managing to have fun without excessive alcohol consumption. The veterans were great leaders, and several of our young, unknown players were outstanding.

Each of the 22 players got at least 4 games, and only Mike Mullen played in all eight of the Atlantis Scottish games.
On the playing field, both squads showed the effectiveness of power scrummaging, as several key plays came directly from its implementation.

The decision to play the two Atlantis teams against each other in full battle mode both surprised and pleased the organizers and the crowd; it probably didn’t help our fitness for the final, but we did what we all felt we had to do.

Finally, as opposed to the Maple Leafs, a funded, virtually national team, Atlantis players all spent the better part of $1000 to participate in the tournament, a real tribute to their dedication and love of the game. (Don’t get me wrong, we would loved to be funded . . . and we’d still love the game . . . ) Furthermore, of the seven players in the final, four attended the East sevens camp this year but were not selected: Kevin O’Connell was the only member of the seven that participated in the national sevens championship weekend (All Stars or clubs) in any capacity. That speaks, I believe, volumes for the depth of sevens rugby in the US. Or for the stupidity of the East coach.

Comments

The Caribbean Sevens is a great rugby event: it’s fun, it’s well organized, the fields are nice (pre-monsoon anyway), and the camaraderie exceptional. From a competitive perspective, however, with the exception of about 5 or 6 teams, this is not a strong tournament, and, with the addition of teams like the Maple Leafs and Atlantis, the disparity between top and bottom is huge. One wonders if the tournament should consider breaking up the competition into premiere and club brackets. It’s nice to score 68 tries and 434 points (the two Atlantis teams combined), but I’m not sure how the teams on the receiving end in the first few games feel about that.

Due to internal Caribbean reasons, the tournament will be moved to early November next year. Given our fifteens season, that may hamper Atlantis’ opportunity to send as competitive a side.

But we’ll most likely try. . .

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