Utah Cannibals Celebrate RTP in Florida

The Utah Cannibals made their first appearance at the Tropical 7s and returned from Orlando, Fla., with a second-place finish in the girls’ U18 division. The select side played the Charlotte (N.C.) Tigress in the final, and both teams featured players from states that allowed both fall and spring rugby during Covid-19.

“That may have been a slight advantage for us,” Utah Cannibals coach Colin Puriri said. “We did get to play in the fall and we started spring 15s about three weeks ago, so these girls have been playing. The first two weekends of the 15s season, it was freezing cold. The first weekend there was snow on the ground, and it was terrible. So they were really excited to go someplace warm.”

The team was one of the more recognizable and historically successful teams competing in the U18 division, but the program has undergone an important transformation. The Utah Cannibals is no longer the state all-star team and there is no connection to Utah Youth Rugby (UYR).

“Utah Youth Rugby gave the high performance all-star program to the [MLR] Utah Warriors and right now, their plans are for boys and 15s. No 7s or girls,” Puriri said. “I don’t know if the Warriors plan to have something in the future, but myself and – we call him ‘the colonel’ – Mark Drown, who started the Cannibals, we talked about keeping the name and brand alive and running.”

Puriri explained that he and Drown found their own separate sponsors to fund the trip and that nothing is organized through or affiliated with UYR.

“It’s fine,” Puriri said. “I think the players are just happy that there’s something for them and that they weren’t just left behind.”

So the Cannibals are now regarded as a select side, which actually opens up opportunities like the NAHS, which prohibits state all-star teams from its elite divisions. That’s one reason why the team had never competed at Tropical 7s in the past, but the tournament will now become a permanent fixture on the calendar.

“I’ve seen most of these girls for the past 3-4 years, and you get a good idea quickly who the talented girls are on all the clubs,” Puriri said of choosing this year’s travel squad. “I asked two of our United captains [Kiani Akina and Lilly Thomas] who they get along with. Which players from other teams could they gel with? Who have they played with on previous all-star teams? They gave me feedback and came up with suggestions, and then I reached out to those players.”

Puriri took the top three players from Brighton and Wasatch, one from the Majestics and the rest from United to Florida. Unfortunately, USA U20 and Harvard University commit Malia Isaacs incurred a lower-leg injury that prevented her participation but she still traveled to sunny Orlando. The Cannibals’ last tour was in December 2019 to Phoenix, Ariz., so the coaches used the opportunity to spoil the players a bit. They arrived on the Tuesday before the competition, had some time to acclimate to the time change and weather, and just relaxed.

“We didn’t have one practice together before Florida,” Puriri said of another benefit of flying in early. “I was really surprised – and I think the girls were, too – at how good the team chemistry was.

“You always go to compete for a trophy and a championship, and I think they believed that we’d probably be good enough to compete,” the coach said of goals. “The unknown was usually in years past, you can track how other teams are doing and what they’ve done, but with Covid and states not playing rugby, it was tough. Maui, for example, it was their first contact [games]. They’ve only been able to play touch. Other places have limited chances to play.”

The Cannibals competed in Pool B and defeated the Celtic Barbarians 50-0, ARPTC 29-0 and Badger Selects 31-5 during day one. Saturday started with the team’s best competition prior to the final – Panther Academy’s Blue side – and the squad responded well in the 22-12 win. Pool play ended with a 51-0 win against Riverdale, and the Cannibals advanced to the final.

“I knew certain girls would be good and they were: Marley Parkinson [Wasatch], Sayler Russell [Wasatch], some of the United girls,” Puriri said. “For a few of them, this was the first time putting them in this setting: Daisey Fuentes [Wasatch] is a tiny little thing and she impressed me, did really well. Another girl, Krystal Tupou from the Majestics, I’ve never really seen her play in this environment and she also impressed. We [United] have a new girl – Teuila Nawahine – who moved here from Idaho. She’s played one 15s game with us, but she impressed me in 7s.

“And we had two freshmen,” Puriri said of Marlee Neiufi and Elsa Lavulavu. “Marlee played in the Utah youth summer program the last couple of years and as a 9th grader just stepped right into high school rugby. She’s big and so aggressive, and hits people full force. She doesn’t look like a freshman. She had a lot of people asking her which colleges she was looking at.”

The Cannibals lined up against Tigress, a combination squad from the Charlotte, N.C., area. Tigress hails from an area that, like Utah, was allowing full-contact rugby, and had also played fall 7s and spring 15s this season.

RELATED: Tigress Takes Tropical 7s Top Honors

“They were a good team. I mean, you don’t lose to bad teams,” Puriri said.

Tigress went up by two tries before the Cannibals responded. And although the Utah team battled throughout, it was also chasing. The Cannibals also incurred a yellow card in the first half, and then the same player was carded in the second half, resulting in a red.

“The cards were big,” Puriri said. “There’s so much space in 7s and if you take one person out, that’s a lot more space.

“But that was the only reason,” the coach said of difference-makers. “We had some early turnovers, even at the start of the game. I don’t really think they were nervous or had jitters, but we had a couple of knock-ons and dropped balls that weren’t happening in previous games.”

In the end, Tigress outscored the Cannibals three tries to two for a 17-14 victory.

“They were gutted after the loss,” Puriri said. “But after they got over it, they were back to having a good time and singing karaoke until late at night. It’s a good group of girls and they had fun. It’s nice not showing up the night before the tournament and then going two days straight. They were able to enjoy themselves.”

Looking ahead, Puriri is hoping that the LA 7s (June 25-26) hosts an invitational, but there has been no news on that front yet. So the staff is looking at Bloodfest 7s (June 19) in Round Rock, Texas, and the team has a spot in the NAI 7s (July 23-24) in Salt Lake City. Pink 7s also announced that it will be held May 15 in Salt Lake City, using the field reservations from the cancelled Girls’ High School Club National Tournament. Next year, Puriri wants to the take the girls’ team to Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens tournament in London. The boys’ have attended twice already and Puriri is eager to give that experience to the girls.

UTAH CANNIBALS

Kiani Akina – United

Daisey Fuentes – WasatchMalia Isaacs – Brighton (inj)

Elsa Lavulavu – UnitedElsie Moleni – BrightonMargaret Moleni – Brighton

Teuila Nawahine – United

Marlee Neiufi – UnitedMarley Parkinson – WasatchSayler Russell – WasatchLilly Thomas – UnitedKrystal Tupou – Majestics

Ane Vakapuna – United