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Few teams have dominated their region in 7s this summer as much as the Denver Barbarians, as they won maximum points in the West Qualifier series to take the top seed to the national championships.
Leading the way for the Barbos is a formidable group of forwards, led by USA 7s player Mark Bokhoven, Eagle Nic Johnson, and less-known but no less useful Ben Haapapuro.
| Above, Haapauro on the run at the 2009 nationals, and below, chasing down a loose ball (both Dobson Images). Middle: in the air for a lineout ball in Denver, Pat Clifton photo, and bottom, with Atlantis in Tahiti, his apprently adopted country. |
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At 6-4, 210 Haapapuro could probably stand to put on a few pounds, but he gets around the field and, critical for the Barbarians, he gets up in the air.
“What we did really well earlier in the summer was work on kickoffs and kick receives,” Haapapuro told RIUGBYMag.com. “And then we go to the championship match in Kansas City and lose three of them. So it’s something that’s really important for us to get right. For me, being as light as I am I think I can contribute there.”
Haapapuro started playing rugby as a senior at Appleton High School in Wisconsin. He laughs at the notion that many rugby fans assume he is of Polynesian descent because of his vowel-heavy name - his ethnicity is Finnish.
"I want to Tahiti with Atlantis and people were asking me if I was Tahitian," said the tall, thin, fair-skinned Haapapuro. "That was pretty funny."
He stayed in the area to go to college and played rugby with the Fox City Gargoyles, but he wanted to do something more.
“I graduated in 2003 and did some traveling - one of my main goals in life is to visit 100 countries before I die; rugby makes that a little easier,” he said.
Haapapuro played a little rugby here and there, but not seriously until he returned to the USA. Then he started looking for a club to play for.
“I wanted to get out of Wisconsin and looked for a Super League team,” he said. “In the end I love snowboarding and Denver has cheaper and better snow than some of the other options so I went to Denver.”
Now he’s looking to help Denver win a national title in 7s, but he knows it will be tough. While the Barbarians took top points in the Kansas City, they ended up losing the final (where they gave up all those restarts) to the Chicago Lions from the Midwest. The Lions weren’t eligible for West RFU points, but the loss taught the Barbarians something.
“We felt we were playing pretty well but after losing to Chicago we certainly thought we had some room for improvement,” Haapapuro added. “Our defense really needs to step it up. It’s like in football, where you always see that the team that wins the Super Bowls do it on defense. We’ve been working hard on our defense, and also on our fitness. Against Chicago [in Kansas City] I was exhausted. So I’ve been working hard on that.”
Following that harsh lesson the Lions dealt Denver, they torched their opposition at this past weekend’s Denver 7s.
”I like traveling to tournaments because you keep out distractions, but it is tiring, and it’s good to play at home, sleep in your own bed,” said Haapapuro.
They didn’t get to play the Lions, or their West rivals the Dallas Harlequins, but they did get to clash with Aspen (2009 national finalists) and Olympic Club from the Pacific Coast. The results? Denver 33 Olympic Club 7, Denver 47 Aspen 0.
“We’re just going to keep on training,” said Haapapuro. “One of these years we’ll win a national championship. I’ve been here since 2006, and maybe now we can finally win it.”
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