A weekend of stellar girls' high school/U19 matches occurred at the Fullerton (Calif.) International Tournament this weekend, as six teams as far as Canada and Wisconsin joined the California heavyweights Fallbrook (San Diego), Kent (Wash.), Mother Lode (Sacramento) and Fullerton. At day's end, reigning national champion Fallbrook emerged with a 20-0 victory over Kent, but not without suffering an upset of their own.

"With four of the top teams from the West Coast attending, the spectators were not disappointed with the quality of rugby dished out," tournament director and Fullerton coach Ravi Perera said. "The girls' matches were far more exciting than the boys! And the tournament made the front page news of the Orange County Register, which has never covered rugby or even the Rugby World Cup."

The event was particularly significant given the new invitation-only system of the girls' national championship; the Fullerton tournament marked the only venue in which these four Pacific Coast sides would face each other.

Fullerton and Kent exited day one undefeated and leaders of their respective pools. The hosts shut out Mother Lode 20-0 in their most impressive game of the day, while Kent upset favorites Fallbrook 7-0 in a bone-crunching, forwards-dominated game.

During Sunday's qualifier, Fallbrook advanced to the final with a 12-5 win over Fullerton, while Kent remained 3-0 after a 7-3 victory over Mother Lode.

In what was set to be an exciting Cup Championship, Fallbrook rallied from their day-one defeat to beat Kent 17-0 in convincing fashion. Fullerton won the Bowl Championship after eliminating Mother Lode 12-0, then crushing Alberni Secondary (Canada) 42-0.

In the Boys' division, the Los Angeles Cougars returned home with the championship trophy, defeating Claremont 20-10 in the semifinals and Empire 20-10 again the title match.