It’s a relatively slow weekend in 7s if you count only qualifier tournaments, but it's still an active weekend for seven-a-side rugby. 

The Oasis 7s is the second of the tournaments in Southern California, with Belmont Shore and OMBAC expected to lead a competitive field.

In Oregon, ORSU hosts the Roy Lucas 7s, named after a longtime and beloved player who died in 1995 after collapsing during a rugby game.

Interestingly, June 25 was Lucas’s birthdate; he would have been 68.

Old Puget Sound Beach leads a competitive field in the men’s bracket that also includes hosts ORSU, and teams from Battleground, Wash., Corvallis, Ore., Portland, Olympia, Wash., and Eugene.

Also contenders are the Eastside Tsunami, from Portland, and the Fort Tacoma squad, whose name implies a collaboration with nearby Joint Base Fort Lewis-McChord.

It’s a small bracket for the women, with ORSU, Tacoma, Corvallis and Rip City rounding out the competition.

Further north the Hogfest 7s takes place in Bellingham, Wash. And further north than that will be the Vancouver 7s.

Defending BC 7s Series champs Burnaby Lake leads a strong field in the Elite Division of the Vancouver 7s, which also features defending USA national champs Old Puget Sound Beach (yes we know they are set to play in Portland, too; OPSB is splitting its squad for the weekend).

This looks to be the debut for OPSB of USA player Miles Craigwell.

OPSB is set to play Bayside, Burnaby Lake and Youngbucks. Not at the tournament are series leaders James Bay (OPSB is third).

OPSB also appears to be fielding, believe it or not, a 2nd side, meaning they will be playing three sides in the top bracket of two different tournaments 350 miles apart.

In Texas an intriguing West Qualifier tournament attempts to answer who is best in the West. Dallas looks very strong, as does Denver and Glendale. It will be a clash. See more here.

In Northern California, the Palo Alto 7s series begins. This series usually focuses on getting teams games, rather than giving them trophies, and can often produce some weird results, but also some thrilling games.

In the Midwest, a superb-looking Chicago Lions team looks to be favorites in the Firehouse 7s, hosted by the Chicago Blaze in Lamont, Ill. See more here.

This is a Midwest Sevens Series tournament, with points on offer.

No points on offer at the Harborfest 7s, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. But the Steel City 7s in Pittsburgh is a qualifier as well.

The Mid-Atlantic 7s series takes a weekend off, as does the Northeast series.

For the Northeast, the reason is that two well-respected tournaments are in action, with the Mad River 7s in Stowe, Vt., and the Hudson Valley 10s in Cornwall-on-Hudson.

The MARFU series takes a break because of the PAC 7s, which always draws a huge number of teams.

Also in action this weekend: Harrisburg 7s in Annville, Pa., the Vulcan 7s in Birmingham, Ala., and the Todd Miller 7s in Sanford, Fla.

The Pacific Tyees talented team made up of young players from Canada's National 7's side and youth National Teams defeated the Howlers 17 - 7 at the CFL half time game between Lions and Roughriders in Vancouver on June 22, 2011 in front of some 25,000 fans. This was the third of a series of 7s games the Howlers organized and played in half time of Canadian Football League games in Regina, Calgary and now Vancouver to showcase our exiting game to the the Canadian sporting public.

Walaisi Serevi and Michael Fuailefau on the attack. (Photo courtesy of Karl Fix)

The Howlers along with everyone he played against and all the fans watching had the privilege to witness Fiji's legendary "magician" Waisale Serevi who is considered by most the greatest 7s player in the history of the game. "Vinaka" Serevi for letting us witness greatness!

Dog River Howlers Roster
Chase Sereda - Vancouver BC
Michael Fuailefau - Victoria BC
Colin Brown - Vancouver BC
Sean Mercier - Vancouver BC
Patrick Kay - Victoria BC
Waisale Serevi - Fiji/Seattle WA
Joe Dolesau - Burnaby BC
Mike Okech - Vancouver BC
Rain De Guzman - Burnaby BC

Head Coach - Shane Thompson
Team Manager - Rodger Swany


Pacific Tyees Roster
Kurtis Appeldorn - Abbotsford RFC
Jeff McKinnon - Capilano RFC (UBC)
Beau Parker - University of Victoria
Andrew Crow - University of Western Ontario (Castaways RFC)
Keaton Styles - University of Victoria (Bayside RFC)
Liam Murray - University of Victoria (Capilano RFC)
Mike McDonald - Capilano RFC
Graeme Minty - UBC Ravens

Head Coach - Geraint John
Team Manager - Brian Hunter


Referee
Dave Smortchevsky

Referee Assistants
Sam Langridge
Sherry Trumbull