Split Vail Rugby Club squads travel to Denver 7s tournament and face Steamboat Springs in first league match of the 2025 season
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
A split Vail Rugby Club fought a few tough battles in both Denver and Steamboat Springs on Saturday.
Coach Joe Lippert sent his starters to the high-stakes Denver 7s Frontier Region qualifier at Cook Park while the rest of the squad traveled to Steamboat Springs for the Rocky Mountain League opener. The former group finished fourth in the eight-team knockout round while the latter fell 27-23 against their league rivals.
“Very pleased with how the 7s guys showed at Denver. We spent maybe two hours total on 7s in training but the guys came together and won the matches they should,” Lippert said.
The 7s lost their opening match to the Kansas City Blues 21-19, but came back to defeat the Colorado Springs Spartans 36-7, earning a quarterfinal matchup against the Gentleman of Aspen. Vail defeated their rivals 26-19 to advance to the semifinals, where they faced the three-time defending tournament champion Denver Barbarians. The hosts, one of the top teams in the country, defeated Vail 41-0. Damilola Odunuga and Milaan Van Wyck earned player of the tournament status and Lippert highlighted the efforts of Matt Carda, who played every minute of every match.
“Getting a win over Aspen, even in 7s, is a big success for the club,” Lippert stated. “To be competitive against some of the top 7s squads in the country and finish top-4 at such a quality tournament is a successful day.”
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Vail felt the absence of its starters in Steamboat Springs. Lippert’s team — which hadn’t allowed any points in its first two games of the year, both wins — fell behind 7-0 15 minutes in. Vail found its rhythm at the end of the first half, but couldn’t convert territory into points.
Bensen Han finally put Vail on the board at the 29-minute mark. Ethan Edwards converted and added a penalty goal to put the team up 10-7 going into the half. Lippert said he felt his team took control of the game in the first 15 minutes of the second period, but continued to come away from 22-meter line visits empty handed.
Still, Edwards nailed another penalty kick and Trent Draper scored a try at 53 minutes to give the visitors a 20-7 advantage. Steamboat Springs rallied, scoring unconverted tries in the 62nd and 67th minute before Edwards added another goal to make it 23-17. From there, the home team surged, scoring twice in the final five minutes to hand Vail its first 15s loss of the year.
“Disappointing to start the league season with a loss, but all credit to Steamboat. They have improved a lot from last season and brought in quality talent,” Lippert said. “We came out super flat for the first 20 minutes, were too passive on defense most of the match, did not convert territory into points nearly enough and then played not to lose as Steamboat surged into the end of the match. Usually when you play not to lose, you do.”
While he thinks having his full squad together might have produced a different result, Lippert wasn’t about to make excuses for lack of execution.
“This was a very winnable match if we do the little things right more often,” he continued. “Again, credit to Steamboat for putting us under pressure and taking the match in the final 15 minutes. If we take the lessons from this match, we will push on and have a great summer.”
Vail returns to the pitch on July 5 in Aspen. Their next home contest July 26th, also against Aspen. For a full schedule, visit Vailrfc.com.
