THE DUMFRIES 7’s (A not unexpected journey)

“On a seat in a minivan there sat some rugby players. Not a nasty, dirty, minivan, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, minivan with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat and drink: it was a rugby minivan, and that means comfort, after a fashion!”
The journey began as usual, squad assembled at O.A. at the assigned time, no sign of the coaches or transport. The difference; last week’s coaches, due to other commitments, were replaced by the dream team of Messer’s Reekie and Hannah. The objective FUN, and to equal or better the performances of last week’s squad.
Following from the previous weekends successful participation in The Madras 7’s the pressure was on for this week’s squad to perform. This did not at first appear to be a likely outcome as some of the occupants of the minivan looked as if they had just returned from a day at the Melrose 7’s, as opposed to departing to the inaugural Dumfries under 18’s Ian Kerr memorial 7’s Tournament. However spirits lifted as the journey south progressed, all being “wide awake” on arrival a couple of hours later.
The boys trained well, new players learning lineout calls, back moves etc. whilst we awaited our first match at 12:00hrs.
Our pool was to include Ardrossan Academicals, Portobello, and Newton Stewart; this would be good as we had not played either Portobello or Newton Stewart before. Unfortunately Newton Stewart did not make it, but we were rescheduled to meet old friends Waysiders – Drumpellier in their place.
12:00 hrs. and the teams were piped onto the field in front of healthy crowds of supporters, Hawks and Ardrossan leading the way as theirs was the first match of the tournament. It would, at this point, be remiss of me not to pass on the squads’ gratitude to those relatives, and players who were not in the match day squad, for coming all that distance to lend their support and loud voices to the cause.
Hawks very quickly got into their stride, and started where they left off last week, playing some very “tasty” 7’s rugby. The ball was doing “most” of the work whilst they played for an opening in the opposition’s defensive line. When an opportunity arose it was taken, and quickly. As in the full sided version of our game, there is no substitute for natural pace (amongst other skills) and this Hawks squad have it in spades.
Final Score Hawks 47 v Ardrossan 5.
The lads had a short turnaround (1 match duration) before they were due to face the new challenge of Portobello. All our matches were on the Main pitch, and the larger playing surface certainly suited our faster and seemingly fitter players. Portobello challenged at every opportunity, in fact, running in two unconverted tries. Hawks however were now getting into their stride and crossed the whitewash 6 times, converting 5 of these.
Final Score Hawks 40 v Portobello 10.
The final pool match against old friends Waysiders Drumpellier soon followed, Hawks were really enjoying themselves now, as seemingly from the vocal support, were a sizable section of the “neutrals”. We saw, as Jiffy might have said, “some lovely, lovely rugby”; including one 25 meter dash from a “true” prop to score; not the usual 5 meter breenge. A quite large W.D. side seemed to want to play an abbreviated version of the full sized game, taking the ball into contact whenever they could. The ball would be turned over, moved across the park quickly, and run in.
Final Score Hawks 52 v Waysiders Drumpellier 0.
There was now a quite long wait for the semi-final, also we would not find out until one match before it who we would meet. Time to rehydrate, the support and coaches appeared to take this much more seriously! They boys wanted to lightly refuel and practice and this looked like paying off when they eventually took to the field for the semi-final. Against? Who else but our old pals from Burnbrae. A Hawks, West semi-final, I did hear a few during and after stating that this should have been the final as apparently West had played some fine seven’s along their way to this stage of the competition.
Both sides went “for it” from the off, Hawk’s scored, West scored. This happened on three occasions. For such a competitive match it was however played in great spirit by both teams, the coaches seemed a tad unimpressed by the friendliness shown, as a Hawks player was subbed for giving a West scorer a “Dan Parks handshake” after his crossing the line! Hawks game went up another gear as they ran in three more unanswered tries to take the game.
Final Score Hawks 34 v West of Scotland 21.
The Final followed quickly, and it was to be against Cartha Queens Park, whom I personally have no recollection of the boys playing before. The lads carried on from before, sevens style. Lovely movement and awareness of space, it was also pleasing to see support runners following a player home. This was testament to their fitness at the end of a busy day. Their desire to play an expansive game did allow CQP in to score on three occasions, but their confidence in attacking rugby paid off as they ran in six tries.
Final Score Hawks 40 v Cartha Queens Park 19.
A Cup win and, a great day out.
I would like to thank all at Dumfries Rugby Club for hosting an excellently run competition which hopefully goes from strength to strength. Well done to all sides who competed in the true spirit of the game (a couple even taking the opportunity for Ritual Fancy Dress).
Lessons learned: - Fitness and pace are key, along with letting the ball “do the work”.
Do not, I repeat do not allow a certain SL to handle trophies of any description!!!!
North Berwick 10’s beckons, all welcome to join the party.

This article was posted on 18-Apr-2013, 20:24 by Hugh Barrow.