Defence Force claimed both the men's and women's Open titles in the 46th edition of the Police Sevens Rugby Tournament at Phase II Recreation Ground in La Horquetta on Saturday.
The Army/Coast-Guard Combination men's team played unbeaten in an opening round-robin play-off which saw the top four teams including the Defence Force, national champion Caribs, Northerns and Exile progressing to the semifinals.
The Defence Force then cruised to the title match with a convincing 42-0 triumph over Exile from their semifinal encounter, while Caribs, the other team in the final, was made to work hard before they prevailed over their close arch-rivals Northerns 17-10 in the second semifinal.
Caribs, this year's T&T Rugby Football Union's League and Knock-Out champions were favoured to capture the crown, until the Army produced brute power to seal the win 28-10 in the final.
The Army women later claimed the open women's title by beating their fierce rival Police in a best-of-three playoff.
Earlier in the tournament, Exile won the Under-20 Division title by playing unbeaten in a five-team round-robin play-off that also comprised Northerns and San Juan, among other teams.
Chief organiser Anson Springer said from the tournament national sevens teams (men, women and U-20) will be selected to represent the country at the coming Rugby Americas North Sevens Tournament to take place at the end of the month right here in T&T.
The tournament will feature teams such as Mexico, USA South, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Guyana, Bahamas, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica among other teams.
Springer told Guardian Media Sports that instead of selecting teams to train for the Sevens competition, selectors have allowed the players to engage in the Police Sevens tournament to get a better assessment of the players before choosing the respective teams.
