Heat Rugby head coach Taylor Howden is no stranger to the RugbyTown 7s.
He’s one of the few people who has either played or coached in every single one.
Having made memories at Infinity Park on the third weekend of August for the past 13 years, the ones he made yesterday will be tough to beat.
Despite suffering several injuries throughout the tournament, Heat Rugby posted an impressive 6-0 record en route to their first RugbyTown 7s Cup title. Heat Rugby becomes the ninth different team to win the RugbyTown 7s Cup title in the tournament’s 13-year history.
Heat Rugby’s route to the finals saw them go through two RugbyTown 7s regulars. They narrowly defeated Tsunami Rugby – the 2024 RugbyTown 7s runner-ups – 26-24 in the semifinals and then beat NAV 7s 33-7 in a Cup Final that was much closer than the final scoreline indicated.
The third-place final saw Tsunami Rugby edge past the Scimitar Storm 15-12. In their first year at the RugbyTown 7s, the Scimitar Storm hadn’t lost a match until Sunday when they fell 26-21 to NAV 7s and then again in their final match of the weekend.
The R10 Selects, another RugbyTown 7s newcomer, used a wire-to-wire 36-7 victory over the Ramblin’ Jesters to claim the plate in their first-ever tournament appearance.
After a slow start to the tournament, the Wild Dogs capped off a three-match win streak with a 29-12 victory over Assassins 7s in the Bowl final.
In the Shield final, the Apache 7s defeated a young N.A. Lions team 26-17 to secure some silverware in their second RugbyTown 7s appearance.
A restructured tournament format saw the U.S. Armed Forces champion crowned early Sunday evening rather than the usual mid-afternoon timeslot on Saturday. All signs were pointing to the Department of the Air Force taking home their first-ever U.S. Armed Forces Championship title, but All-Army had other plans. All-Army overcame a 24-12 loss to the Department of the Air Force in their first match of the tournament to defeat that same team in a defensive slugfest that was the U.S. Armed Forces title match. All-Army did just enough to win the match 12-5 and claim their fourth-straight U.S. Armed Forces Championship to bring their overall total to 11.
