Denver 7s Rugby Selects

Foreword: The Denver 7s Rugby Selects (elite select side) are free for any player to try out for, apply for, and/or play for. For more information, please see below... The Denver 7s Rugby Selects is a side not formally affiliated with any other club and are not to be confused with the Denver Barbarians (club side). Although the Denver Barbarians helped us to build this webpage, the two sides are completely unaffiliated beyond this.

About Us

The Denver 7s Rugby Selects were branded by USA Rugby in early 2014 as a City based regional Elite Select team. We are tasked with finding and developing players (males ages 18+) from the western part of the US (Frontier Competitive Region and near‐by: Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and South Dakota plus Montana, New Mexico and Oklahoma).

In July 2017, USA Rugby named the Denver Sevens a National Development Academy. We encourage the Denver 7s Select players to play with their clubs/colleges at the highest level possible and play on select/all‐star teams when invited. We have in the past, and continue to today, develop National team players and Olympians.

USA Rugby established the Olympic Development 7s Academy (ODA model ‐ now called National Development) model in late 2012 and the Elite City 7s team model in early 2014. These teams essentially provide similar opportunities for players to develop and play at a lever higher than the club/college team model and prepare them for entry into the National team (the Eagles) and International competition.

It is the intention of USA Rugby to keep these players in an active training and playing environment for up to 10 months per year. Although Elite and Rugby 7s focused, there is a net benefit for the 15s and 7s club programs that the players are members of.

Quality opportunities for our program, allow us to market ourselves to supporters and sponsors as well as to engage players and coaches.

Our region is large and sparsely populated but takes pride in competing incredibly well with the more densely populated and better funded competition.

We target playing in six (6) domestic and one (1) international competition each year. Even though the number of competitions in which we compete each year is not high, it does take significant resources to attend and compete in these events.

Costs for training, combines, equipment, travel, and player welfare, costs can add up to $120,000 per year. Every dollar raised helps ensure that we are able to continue our program and provide the players with the best development experience and welfare possible.

The Denver 7s Rugby team has had great success and we intend to continue this trend. More importantly, we intend to develop rugby players so they can compete at a higher level. Some of the more recent success stories are listed below. With our proven program record and level of competitiveness, the team has been invited to play in international events and has played well at the Las Vegas / Los Angeles Invitational 7s and the Rugby Town 7s.

We need help supporting our players and staff either individually or collectively. Support or leads to private or corporate sponsorship would be greatly appreciated!

To contact Denver 7s Selects, use the link at the bottom of this page…

Noteworthy Players

We have a culturally diverse staff and player group which is evolving every tournament and constantly pushing for higher rugby honors.

Examples of these players include USA rugby 7s Olympians Martin Iosefo, Ben Pinkelman, Kevon William and Cody Melphy. An additional 7 other players have recently played on the US National 7s team including Walt Elder, Malon Al‐Jiboori, Nick Boyer, Jake Wendling & Lance Williams.

We also have 5 players who have represented the US National 15s team.

Ten other Denver 7s players that have been invited to train with the National 7s team and play with the US reserve team; the Falcons. We communicate with the National team staff on a regular basis to promote our players and to seek suggestions of players who are in communications with the US 7s team trying to work their way up.

Lastly, there are numerous other players who have progressed through our ranks and gone on to have played PRO Rugby, Major League Rugby, and/or in the PR7s.