Super showcase of rugby union in sevens competition

WITH the sun shining and more 1,000 players, supporters and families in attendance, this was a great showcase of rugby 7s in Milton Keynes.

With 36 teams attending this year across Elite, Open, Social and Ladies tournaments the annual Milton Keynes Rugby 7s tournament is now well and truly established on the summer rugby 7s circuit with a high quality tournament including a large number of championship and national league players and teams now attending each year.

This was the first year the tournament included a Ladies tournament and they were not disappointed with the quality including teams consisting of England 7s and representative players.

The action kicked off early on Saturday morning with the Sure2Door Social tournament taking place on a smaller rugby pitch all day.

This tournament was designed for players wishing to enjoy the more social aspects of the game, however, the quality of the rugby on show was the highest seen in our annual social tournament.

With eight teams taking part the final culminated in two teams organised by two Milton Keynes RUFC members, The Convicts organised by Mike Fitz and the AZOZ Village Cougars organised by Dave Matthews.

Although AZOZ looked like potential winners, they ran out of steam in the final, maybe due to enjoying the social aspects to much, with The Convicts taking the glory, the social trophy and of course the beer prize.

The Ladies tournament this year consisted of a number of specialist 7s teams including Find Rugby Now, RAF Pumas, Swift 7s, RFU Injured Players Foundation and our local ladies team Bletchley Breakers. With the quality of the tournament high, local team Bletchley Breakers struggled to match the pace and fitness of the other teams, but hats off to them for playing hard all the way through the tournament and they ended up winning the tournament Fair Play award.

After a great day of ladies rugby, the final was contested by Injured Players Foundation and Swift 7s, a South West representative team. With a number of the Injured Players Foundation representing rugby at the highest level in the UK, their quality showed on the day, running out 50 – 0 winners to take the Rugby:MK Ladies Shield.

The Zoti Sports Open tournament consisted of 16 teams including local teams Milton Keynes, Towcester, Ampthill, Mens Own and Bletchley. This was one of the most competitive tournaments on the day, with all 16 teams playing great quality 7s rugby, however most of the local teams were knocked out at the quarter final and semi final stages. The final was contested by a 7s specialists team ‘Cunning Stunts’, who had dropped down to the open after fielding a weakened squad and Chelsea College Old Boys organised by Milton Keynes old boy Joe Gorman. With their experience of the 7s circuit the Cunning Stunts proved too much for the Chelsea College Old Boys in the final, running out 41 – 10 winners to take the Zoti Sports Mens Open Cup.

The Marstons Hemingway Elite tournament was hotly contested by eight top quality 7s teams including local lads The Hammerheads from Olney. Belief 7s were back to defend their 2013 title, but unfortunately they were not able to field a strong squad with a number of players at the Rome 7s. From the off, it was obvious the quality of this tournament would be exceptional this year with Wizards of Wales and Leicester Lions winning their respective pools. The Leicester Lions progressed to the final after beating Oxfam Crusaders 55 – 5 in the semis and The Wizards of Wales running out 28 – 7 winners against last year’s champions Belief 7s. With the majority of the team consisting of top quality players from the Welsh leagues, the Wizards of Wales had the edge in the final and they took the Milton Keynes Rugby 7s Hemingway Shield glory with a 34 – 18 win in a hard fought match against National League 2 team Leicester Lions.

With the day also consisting of a beer cider festival organised by virtual orchard and a live music event including locals acts Jamie Stimpson Mister Vee, Craig, Live and Murphys Law, the event was also able to raise over £1,000 for our local charity Willen Hospice. Many thanks to all the teams, supporters, volunteers, referees, the army cadets and spectators in making this the most enjoyable and successful Milton Keynes Rugby 7s festival to date. We look forward to the next event in 2015.

Article source: http://www.skysports.com/rugbyunion/match_report/0,,11069_62732_1,00.html

Super showcase of rugby union in sevens competition