Counting the USA 7s Collegiate Rugby Championship, in his last 136 minutes of rugby, Peter Tiberio has scored 11 tries.

Three of those came on Saturday for the All Americans team as he sparked his squad to a 60-17 defeat of New Zealand Universities.

The key moment came early in the match. With the score 0-0, the New Zealanders were camped on the All American goal line.

It was a tough-minded goal line stand by the Americans. They held New Zealand University and finally forced a turnover. The ball hit the deck and Tiberio was on it, fly-hacking downfield and chasing after it. Tiberio dribbled the ball on, gathered, and ran in for a 90-meter momentum-changer.

It’s rare to see an American player soccer-kick a ball on the floor, but in the right circumstances it can be a smart move.

“It’s one of the simplest things you can do,” said a proud captain Blaine Scully. Just hack it downfield and chase after it like a pack of wild dogs. Peter did a great job and it turned the game around from us being defending our goal line to us being up 7-0.”

Tiberio went on to score two more times, but he deflected person praise when asked about the game.

“It was a very good result from a lot of hard word,” Tiberio told RUGBYMag.com. “The guys have come together well. The one thing I was most impressed by was our defense. Early in the first half we were under a lot of pressure from them but we stayed in our defensive shape and were able to create turnovers that led to points for us. Also our forwards put in some big scrums for us that prevented them from attacking how they wanted to.”
For Tiberio, this is another step forward for a player who earned his first USA 7s team cap this spring.

Tiberio scored four tries in only four College Premier Division games this season, two tries in two tournaments for the USA 7s team, eight tries for Arizona in the CRC, and now three for the All Americans.