February 1, 1997: Atlantis at Elizabeth Sevens
(South Australia)
(Atlantis tournament #53)
Emil Signes
March 2, 1997
July 28, 2013
Note of
2013: this article is excerpted and very slightly modified
from an article I wrote on the Atlantis tour of South
Australia - primarily to participate in the Adelaide Sevens
the following week.
The Team. Our players included a geographical cross-section
of the US plus our first Canadian international, Dave Lougheed,
who turned out to be the team MVP. There were four Eagles on the squad (David Dean and Marty
O'Connor, who were to play in Adelaide the following week, hadn't
arrived yet - well not in time to play, they made it for the team
picture.) High school All American and Collegiate Sevens player
Don Younger was our developmental project (and
a future Eagle, as was Vuka Tau).
The Elizabeth roster was
Name
|
Age
|
Ht
|
Wt
|
Positions
|
Club
|
International teams
|
Al Caravelli
|
39
|
5'6
|
150
|
SH, H
|
Old Blue (NY)
|
Argentina
|
Steve Hiatt
|
28
|
5'11
|
180
|
W, C
|
Old Blues (CA)
|
US 7s, 15s
|
Jon Hinkin
|
30
|
5'11
|
180
|
W, C
|
OMBAC
|
US 7s
|
Dave Lougheed
|
28
|
6'3
|
205
|
P, W
|
Balmy Beach (ON)
|
Canada
|
Bill Russell (C)
|
33
|
6'
|
194
|
SH, H
|
Old Blue (NY)
|
US 7s
|
Scott Stephens
|
35
|
6'2 |
195
|
P, H
|
Washington
|
US 7s
|
Vuka Tau
|
28
|
5'6
|
170
|
SH
|
Tongan Yankees
|
|
Kevin Torkelson
|
28
|
6'1
|
195
|
P, H
|
Phoenix
|
|
Don Younger
|
19
|
6'5
|
218
|
P
|
U. Indiana
|
US Collegiate 7s
|
Atlantis at Elizabeth, Australia, February 3, 1997
Top: Dixie Dean, Al Caravelli, Steve Hiatt, Dave Lougheed,
Bill Russell, Kevin Torkelson, Don Younger, Marty O'Connor, Emil
Signes
Bottom: Jon Hinkin, Vuka Tau, Scott Stephens, Bill Gardner
(Picture taken 2 days after Elizabeth Sevens; Dean and
O'Connor weren't there in time to play in Elizabeth)
Every Australian we told we were staying in Elizabeth had the same
reaction: "why the hell would you possibly go there?" Their
apprehensions became ours the first evening after we entered the
front bar at the Kariwara Hotel where we were staying. It
was like entering the bar in Star Wars -- quite a collection of
characters! It was fun, though, and Bill Gardner was a
worthy ambassador.
The Elizabeth people couldn’t have been nicer. Kevin Barry,
the proprietor of the Kariwara, a former Australian and New
Zealand heavyweight champion as well as a prop for Australia,
couldn’t have looked after us better, the Elizabeth Rugby Club
management was very helpful, and we owe special thanks to Gail
Greenecklee, our bus driver, and her two sons Adam and Russell,
who were to be our special gophers at Adelaide.
Elizabeth Sevens, 2/1/1997. Fortunately, this was to be a
tune-up tournament for Adelaide; had it been our sole purpose for
coming we would have been sadly disappointed in our
performance. The 99 degree heat didn’t help, nor did our
travel history. We won our pool, but lost 14-12 to Parndo
Ngaya, an all-Australia Aboriginal side put together by the Ella
brothers and Lloyd Walker. We should have won this game
easily, but would certainly have been crushed in the next round by
Auckland, who, led by the magic of side-stepper Te Rua Tipoki,
took our victors apart,. Auckland led Namoli (Fiji) for most
of the game, only to go down to yet another magic team from the
former Cannibal Isles.
Pool games:
Atlantis 19 Elizabeth 12. We struggled to beat the home
club, but figured our mistakes were behind us.
Atlantis 12 Brighton 21. Brighton has been the best team in
South Australia for several years, and were to supply 8 of the 10
players to the South Australia squad that participated in Adelaide
the following week. Nevertheless, this game was lost on our
mistakes.
Atlantis 49 Southern Suburbs 0. In a game that was not much
of a challenge, Dave Lougheed’s 4 tries were to provide the margin
we needed to win our pool, as Brighton went down to Elizabeth.
Atlantis 21 Western Districts (ACT) 19. We were up 21-0 in
this game, and then fell asleep. Had it been 10-minute
halves, we might actually have lost.
QF: Atlantis 12 Parndo Ngaya 14. It’s not considered
appropriate to blame referees, but this is how the game ended:
after a long injury, we took a quick tap 22, put the ball in play
and got into space. The referee blew the whistle, and as Jon
Hinkin was wrapped up with the ball, said "Play on!" The
ball was killed and the game ended. The ref said he had
blown the whistle because "I just wanted you to know the
game was back on again." And, of course, he added no injury
time to a 2-minute injury. "Well, I have not control over that,"
he said about the hooter that signified seven minutes were
up. It did, however, spare us what would have likely
been an embarrassment against Auckland in the semi-final.
Scoring, Elizabeth Sevens
Name
|
Tries
|
Conv.
|
Points
|
Bill Russell
|
2
|
11
|
32
|
Dave Lougheed
|
6
|
0
|
30
|
Steve Hiatt
|
3
|
0
|
15
|
Don Younger
|
3
|
0
|
15
|
Jon Hinkin
|
1
|
3
|
11
|
Vuka Tau
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Scott Stephens
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Total
|
17
|
14
|
113
|
Opponents
|
10
|
8
|
66
|