Atlantis
Men at Benidorm Sevens 1998
(Atlantis tournament #64)
Emil Signes
JUNE 24, 2013 (rev. August 28, 2013)
Note of 2013: What
follows is the article I prepared for Rugby Magazine;
it appeared, in an edited form, in the July 26 edition of Rugby.
Click on the link to see the on the 1998
Benidorm Sevens as it appeared in Rugby.
Ireland Wins Benidorm
Sevens
May 22-24, 1998, Benidorm,
Spain. Ireland won the 12th edition of the Benidorm Sevens
this month, defeating a French Froggies side who knocked out their
country’s national team in the semis. The US invitational team
Atlantis finished a respectable 2-2, losing only to France and
Ireland.
Benidorm Sevens
The Benidorm Sevens, in its 12th year, continues to
draw a great mix of competition, from top national teams to lowly
junior clubs just there for the beer. The tournament starts on
Friday, with the International Bracket swinging into action on
Saturday afternoon. A list of past winners indicates the variety
of the event:
1987 Gala (Scotland)
1988 President’s VII (in Atlantis' first trip, lost to
President's VII in QF)
1989 Expats (South Africa)
1990 Expats (South Africa)
1991 Llanelli (Wales)
1992 Fiji ---
(Also: Atlantis women win only
women’s bracket in history of tourney)
1993 Western Samoa
1994 Ukraine (Atlantis lost to Ukraine in SF)
1995 Atlantis
(US)
1996 Ireland (an injury-laden Atlantis participated)
1997 France (Atlantis lost to Froggies in SF)
1998 Ireland
International Bracket
The Froggies are a French invitational side that
specialize in sevens, and reached the final by defeating their
country’s national side. France had previously also been defeated
by Armagnac, a French club side, but got back in the thick of
things when Atlantis defeated Armagnac on the last play of their
pool match.
Ireland absorbed a 20-point pool loss to the Froggies and came
back to storm into the finals. The first minute looked like a
repeat crushing by the Froggies, who scored from the opening
kickoff and blasted towards another try on the ensuing one.
Ireland, however, forced a turnover for a two-try swing, and their
superior fitness carried them to a 19-10 win and an enjoyable
evening.
Senior Club
The senior club bracket was joined by Ushuaia,
Argentina, the world’s southernmost rugby club. Ushuaia had made
its Benidorm connection as a result of Atlantis’ trip to the End
of the World Sevens in December and were enjoying late
Mediterranean spring rather than the beginning of the Antarctic
winter. They did exceptionally well, making it to the final, where
they were outclassed by a much faster Fylde (England) team.
Junior Club
For the most part, the Junior Club division was
populated by players who looked pained and hungover at having to
play all those games, but the champions, Nottingham University,
were worthy winners.
Atlantis
The Atlantis team comprised the following. The
names are preceded by their
Atlantis number. Additionally, an asterisk indicates a current
college student, reflecting a desire on Atlantis'
part to continue to develop American sevens players.
267 Al Caravelli, captain, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh 7s & Old Blue 15s
245 Rob Anna, Rochester and Montauk
387 * Rob Balnis, Frostburg State and Montauk
394 Doug Brown, Kansas City Blues
395 Vaughn Crowe, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh
396 Phil Gunther, Orlando
397 * Al Lakomskis, U of Arizona
123 Keith McLean, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh
398 Steve Robke, Kansas City Blues
399 * Matías Torrijo, Miami
342 * Don Younger, Indiana U
Emil Signes, Coach
Steve “Jo Jo” Gunn, Manager
Guest members of the tour were Annie, Kyle and Kristina Caravelli,
Al’s wife and children, respectively.
Atlantis' itinerary
Trains planes and automobiles. Atlantis
members flew from New York to Madrid, caught cabs to the train
station, got a Talgo train to Alicante, where they were picked up
by Mayke, wife of tournament director Ignacio Davila, and driven
to Benidorm.
Train, train, train. Wednesday and Thursday we trained
twice each day at the field at Villajoyosa, home of the local club
and former site of the tournament. Friday was reserved for a
walk-through and the annual Atlantis day at the Go Kart track.
Then there was the rookie show, engineered by Vaughn Crowe, AKA
“Buck from Barcelona”.
Signesville. Occasionally, Atlantis makes a pilgrimage to
Gata de Gorgos, the home town of Emilio Signes Monfort, my father,
where my first cousin Antonio Signes Signes runs a bar and
restaurant. This was one of those years, and the paella and
sangría were consumed with pleasure. (It was a good night to be in
Spain, as it was the evening Real Madrid won the European Soccer
Cup.)
Atlantis gathers for our trip to Signesville (Gata de
Gorgos) and Cousin Antonio Signes Signes' restaurant (Bar Pou)
L to R: Rob Anna, Doug Brown, Rob Balnis obscuring Al
Lakomskis, Don Younger, Al Caravelli (back) & Matías
Torrijo, Keith McLean,
JoJo Gunn (back) and Vaughn Crow, Steve Robke, Emil
Signes, Phil Gunther
Bar al Pou in 2007. On right, first cousin Antonio
Signes Signes with his wife María (R) and daughter María
Teresa.
It's the first building in town (see sign) and was
formerly owned by my father
It's been the site of several Atlantis visits since 1988
Atlantis' Game
Results
Atlantis 21 Portugal 7. It was nice to defeat
Portugal after having lost to them in 1996. They are a good sevens
country that qualified as one of the 24 World Cup participants in
1997. It would be tough to say too much complimentary about our
performance, though: it was one of those games where we played not
so good, and they played not quite so good as that. Atlantis tries
were by Vaughn Crowe, Rob Balnis and Doug Brown.
France 27 Atlantis 5. We jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a
Keith McLean try, almost made it 10-0, and were moving the ball
into space again when Matías Torrijo was penalized for dummying
the ball from a maul. Following that penalty, France scored three
quick tries and we were out of the game.
Atlantis 21 Armagnac 17. This was the game of the
tournament for us: Armagnac had just defeated France by 20 points.
Despite a brilliant opening Atlantis try by Rob Anna (12 passes
and nearly 2 minutes possession), Armagnac led Atlantis 17-7 at
halftime and appeared to have taken complete control of the game.
With patience and discipline we clawed our way back with a Don
Younger try from a “Nelly” penalty play. Then with no time left
and all our reserves in the game, Doug Brown scored a 60 yard try
from a shield play to win the game. The Armagnac guys were so
pissed off that all but one refused to shake our hands. Gotta love
it. . .
(In 2013, a memory): The Armagnac scrum half tried to
shove his way past our scrum half, Al Caravelli, on that last
scrum, and Al just shoved him into the scrum. Doug ran around
both of them. Not only didn't the Armagnac scrum half shake
Al's hand at the end of the game, he spit on it. Things
like that just make the memories sweeter.)
Ireland 34 Atlantis 5. This was a disappointing performance
by Atlantis, but Ireland was the class of the tournament: although
there were doubts at this time, the final cleared them up. Doug
Brown scored the only try, giving him a hat trick for the
tournament.
Atlantis scoring
Name
|
T
|
C
|
Points
|
Doug Brown
|
3
|
0
|
15
|
Vaughn Crowe
|
1
|
4
|
13
|
Rob Balnis
|
1
|
1
|
7
|
Rob Anna
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Keith McLean
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Don Younger
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Al Caravelli
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
Total
|
8
|
6
|
52
|
Opponents
|
15
|
5
|
85
|
Wrap up
Once again, Benidorm combined great competition with
some typically Spanish chaos (the organizers were still arguing
after our loss to Ireland whether there would be a consolation
bracket). Benidorm has its own unique personality -- actually both
the town and the tournament do -- and it’s both fun and
competitive. Thanks again to organizer Ignacio Davila and his wife
Mayke, and to their Villajoyosa Rugby Club for holding the event
and for their support. Thanks to Jo Jo Gunn and Al Caravelli for
their hard work, and especially to Bob Davis, who did a lot of the
lead up organizing work but was unable to make the tour because of
illness.
Steve Robke’s presence on the team brought the number of
Atlanteans who have also represented a US national team (7s, 15s,
men, women) to 98 (and CD Labounty’s selection to the US XV vs.
Japan made it 99. Who will be #100?)
