The Texas Oklahoma Louisiana Arkansas (TOLA) Regional 7s Series will consist of 4-5 Regional Tournaments with the goal of crowning a Regional TOLA Champion in the Senior Men’s and Senior Women’s Divisions. All teams entering a designated TOLA tournament will be eligible to receive TOLA points.
The objective is to create a competitive environment for teams to compete in with a level of continuity that doesn’t require the formal club structure of teams wishing to compete for the USA Rugby Club 7s Championships. The teams that have accumulated the most TOLA points at the end of the series will be crowned TOLA champions.
Do note that in order to encourage increased participation and raise the level of competition within the Red River and TOLA competitions, a modified Hong Kong Style format will be used going forward.
This format will combine RRRC qualifier and TOLA teams during pool play. Teams will declare a week in advance of the tournament date whether they are seeking to earn TOLA or RRRC points.
Note: If a club enters two teams in the 2nd or 3rd Qualifiers, one TOLA team and one RRRC team, the TOLA and RRRC rosters are locked. Players may not cross-over between competitions / teams in the same tournament.
Additional RRRC Qualifier rules can be found here: RRRC 7s Rules & Regs. In the event of a conflict between these rules and the TOLA Rules & Regulations in Qualifiers #2 & #3, the RRRC 7s Rules & Regs will apply.
TOLA Points System
- 6 points are awarded to the winning team of each TOLA Series Tournament.
- 4 points awarded to the runner up team of each TOLA Series Tournament.
- 3 points awarded to the third place team of each TOLA Series Tournament.
- 2 points awarded to the fourth place team of each TOLA Series Tournament.
- 1 point awarded to the winner of any consolation bracket of each TOLA Series Tournament
- 1 bonus point awarded for each TOLA tournament entered.
- 2 “at large” points may be awarded at each TOLA Series events at the discretion of the TOLA Commissioner for a team or teams (1 pt. each) that display character that exemplifies the spirit of rugby.
- Examples of behavior that will be considered for these points include traveling a great distance, entering multiple teams, and assisting the tournament hosts in some way, playing up a division to fill a bracket, etc.
NOTE: Clubs fielding multiple sides in a TOLA tournament may not aggregate the TOLA points earned by all sides entered. If a club enters more than one side in a TOLA tournament, the side that finishes the highest in the tournament will be considered their first side for purposes of awarding TOLA points, their next highest finishing side will be considered their second side, and so on.
Example of Combined RRRC / TOLA Format for Qualifiers #2 & #3:
As a hypothetical example, if 12 teams register for a tournament and 4 of those teams declare that they are seeking RRRC points, the tournament format would feature 4 pools of 3 teams. Teams would play 2 pool play matches from which seeding into the knockout rounds will be determined (see illustrations below). The top teams from each pool would then advance to the Cup/Plate round, the second place teams in each pool would play for the Bowl, and the third place teams in each pool would play for the Shield. At the end of the tournament, teams will be ranked by their finish, and the highest finishing team that declared it was playing for RRRC points will be awarded top RRRC points, the next highest finishing RRRC team will be awarded second place RRRC points, and so on. Similarly, the top finishing TOLA team will be awarded top TOLA points, the TOLA team finishing second highest of the TOLA teams in the tournament will get second place TOLA points, etc.
The pools, knockout round brackets, and results in the hypothetical example above would look something like this:
Pools:
| Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D |
| RRRC A | RRRC B | RRRC C | RRRC D |
| TOLA D | TOLA C | TOLA B | TOLA A |
| TOLA H | TOLA G | TOLA F | TOLA E |
Knockout Round Brackets:
| Cup / Plate | Bowl | Shield |
| Winner A (RRRC A) | Pool A #2 (TOLA D) | Pool A #3 (TOLA H) |
| Winner B (RRRC B) | Pool B #2 (TOLA C) | Pool B #3 (TOLA G) |
| Winner C (RRRC C) | Pool C #2 (TOLA F) | Pool C #3 (TOLA B) |
| Winner D (TOLA A) | Pool D #2 (RRRC D) | Pool D #3 (TOLA E) |
Tournament Results:
| Tournament Finish | Team | Competition | TOLA Finish | TOLA Pts. | RRRC Finish | RRRC Pts. | Calculation |
| 1 | RRRC B | RRRC | N/A | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6pts for first |
| 2 | RRRC A | RRRC | N/A | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4pts for second |
| 3 | TOLA A | TOLA | 1 | 7 | N/A | N/A | 6pts first, 1 participation |
| 4 | RRRC C | RRRC | N/A | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2pts for third |
| 5 | RRRC D | RRRC | N/A | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 point for fourth |
| 6 | TOLA C | TOLA | 2 | 5 | N/A | N/A | 4pts 2nd, 1 participation |
| 7 | TOLA D | TOLA | 3 | 4 | N/A | N/A | 3pts for 3rd, 1 participation |
| 8 | TOLA F | TOLA | 4 | 3 | N/A | N/A | 2pts for 4th, 1 participation |
| 9 | TOLA B | TOLA | 5 | 2 | N/A | N/A | 1pt for conciliation winner, 1 participation |
| 10 | TOLA E | TOLA | 6 | 1 | N/A | N/A | 1 pt, Tournament entered |
| 11 | TOLA H | TOLA | 7 | 1 | N/A | N/A | 1 pt, Tournament entered |
| 12 | TOLA G | TOLA | 8 | 1 | N/A | N/A | 1 pt, Tournament entered |
For more details about TOLA 7s, please go to https://texasrugbyunion.com/competitions/texas-sevens-series/.
Results/Standings
Follow the TRU on Facebook to see updated standings and results.
About TOLA:
Started in 2009, TOLA is a 7s Series designed to promote semi-competitive 7s rugby in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. The Series crowns overall men’s and women’s champions at the conclusion of the summer, but also allows for social teams to participate.
The best part of the series is that teams get to travel to fun rugby tournaments, meet new people, and play under a points system designed to make the Series fun and competitive. Host clubs are highly encouraged to sponsor a themed pub crawl or after party, where players dress in the theme. In an effort to increase the fun factor, the 2018 scoring system (see Points System, below) will award points for social participation, as well as success on the field.
As the date of each event draws closer, additional information on the event will be published on the TRU website and Facebook pages. So, get your teams together and start planning your 7s summer road trips!