The Dog River Howlers finished second Saturday at the the International Abbotsford Rugby 7's which teams from six countries participated in. University of Saskatchewan Huskies running back Jeff Hassler, who plays his rugby with the Calgary Hornets, and Calgary Irish's Ian Shoults led the way, scoring seven tries each.

En route to the final game, in which they lost 33-28 to the Fiji Ambassadors (with 8 capped Fijian National Team players), the Howlers racked up wins against the Cayman Islands National Team, Mexican National Team, Burnaby Lake Buffaloes and Valley High, which was made up of a collection of high-level Canadian players, most with national team experience.

The Howlers lost one game in their preliminary round to Fijian club Ratsu Filise, which had placed second to Canada's National Team at the previous week's Victoria 7's. Other prominent international teams competing in the tournament were a Kenyan National Select team and the British Army. The Howlers' next competition will be Mexico's Cancun 7s Nov. 26-27, followed by Cuba's Havana Howlers 7s Dec. 2-3.

Colorado defeated Air Force 24-7 to claim first place in the college bracket of the 44th Annual Denver 7s Rugby Tournament Saturday. The Buffs outscored their downstate rivals four tries to one in a fine display of 7s action at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.  

Colorado bested the Black Monks of Benedictine College 33-12 and blanked University of Wyoming 27-nil in pool play before overpowering New Mexico Tech Pygmies 36-0 in the semifinal round. The Zoomies beat the Pygmies 26-5 and Colorado School of Mines 40-5 in their pool matches, then slipped past the Black Monks 20-12 to earn their berth in the title fixture.  

Buffs got up first when tournament MVP Luke Lahman turned the corner at midfield and scampered 50 meters to dot down for a 5-0 lead. CU extended their margin as Mike broke into space closeby Air Force’s 10-meter line and charged hard at the line before being brought to ground scant yards from goal, but Bryan Bei hit the breakdown in support and snatched ball from the loose -- two steps and a dot down later and CU were up 12-0 with the goal converted by Chris Martin.

The Zoomies drew to within three, scoring a converted goal at 6 minutes, but the Buffs had the last word before half when standoff Martin creased the Air Force defense inside his own 22 and outpaced pursuit 80 meters for his own-converted try and a 19-7 mark at the breather.

“One hell of an effort,” said a beaming CU coach Chuck Uewema, “The guys were dedicated and consistent in their training regimen for this and it paid dividends big time.”  

The second stanza featured desperate defense and lively action, and it was CU’s Martin who sealed the victory with the last try of the match, and the final score went into the books at 24-7.