Middlesex 7s with Lucy Smith

You can tell that the rugby season is about to start when the Middlesex Charity Sevens appear on the horizon.  With just over 3 weeks until the start of the 2009 – 2010, this year is no exception.  There were 16 teams this year, with the 12 premiership teams including the promoted Leeds and 4 invitational sides competing in the knock – out competition.  The 4 invitational sides were: the British Army, Kukri White Hart Marauders, ULR Samurai and Help for Heroes.  The Middlesex sevens are usually used by the premiership sides to blood their youngsters at Twickenham in a fun atmosphere.

The day started with the knock – out competition round one.  All the losers in round 1 go straight into the quarter finals of the Plate competition so all the players and supporters get at least 2 matches and a fab day out in the sun.

The first match of the day was between the British Army and Bath.  All I can say was that Bath had a shocker and the Army were comfortably winning before the half time whistle had sounded.  In the second match, London Irish ran out winners against a youthful Gloucester side which included James Simpson-Daniel’s younger brother Charlie.  The first invitational side to play was the Kukri White Hart Marauders (who described themselves as ‘probably the best pub team in the world’) who played last years’ Sevens champions Harlequins.  Game 4 was between Saracens and Worcester Warriors was an ill – tempered affair and was best described as “it started as a fight then a rugby match broke out”  It was also a close game with Saracens winning the match with 20 seconds to go.  Leeds provided the second surprise of the morning by beating a reasonably strong Wasps side.  Wasps were being watched by their Lions and Wales coach, Shaun Edwards, who looked less than impressed with the result.  The Samuari International side, who were led by the former England Sevens captain, Simon Amor, beat Northampton Saints in a close game. 

Newcastle Falcons provided the biggest surprise of the day with a convincing victory over the Leicester Tigers with the young fly – half Rob Miller pulling the strings.  In the final game of round 1, the Help For Heroes side ran out winners against Sale.

In the quarter finals for the knock out competition, London Irish beat the British Army in a thriller by 17-12 and the Marauders were beaten by Saracens.  The Samaurai Internationals beat Leeds quite emphatically 33 -17.  Newcastle produced a mesmeric display to beat the Help For Heroes side by 34 -5.  Both the Army and the Help For Heroes Sides received standing ovations as they did a lap of honour around the Twickenham pitch.

Within the plate competition, Bath beat Gloucester, Harlequins beat Worcester and the day went from bad to worse for Wasps and Leicester as they lost to Northampton and Sale respectively.  Harlequins reached the plate final after beating Bath in the semi – final.  Sale would be their opponents in the final after beating Northampton.  For the plate final, Sale beat the injury – ravaged Harlequins by 24 -12. 

In the knock-out competition, London Irish played Saracens and in the second semi – final, Samurai Internationals played Newcastle Falcons.  Irish caught Saracens cold and raced to a 12 – 0 lead.  Saracens scored on the stroke of half-time to make it 12-5, however, Peter Richards scored at the beginning of the second half time to lead 17-5.  Saracens did score again in the final few minutes but Irish managed to hang on to win 17-12.

Newcastle started their semi-final well with an early try, however the Samuari scored 2 tries to lead 14 -5 at the break.  Falcons scored again at the beginning of the second half to reduce the deficit but Samuari scored again.  Although Falcons scored another try, the Samurai had another try up their sleeves and went on win 28-17.

In the main final, London Irish played the Samurai International.  London Irish seemed to have the strongest side of the 16 teams which started the competition.  Delon Armitage scored the first try after collecting his own chip ahead.  Marcus Watson and Paul Hodgson 2 tries in quick succession to lead 19-0 at half time.  Sailosi Tagicakibau managed to weave his way over to stretch the lead to 26 – 0.  However, Tagicakibau was sin-binned after a high tackle.  With one less defender, Samurai managed to score 3 tries, 2 of which were converted by Simon Amor.

The final whistle brought great delight to the Irish supporters and players as London Irish won by 26 - 19