"We coulda been a contender..."

(As M Brando Esq might have put it if he'd been playing today...)

Historically Sevens probably hasn't ever really been our best version of the game - good fun and all that but not playing to where our strengths lay. So its was good today to see what - at U17 level - was probably our best ever performance in a Sevens.

Okay, we reached the U14 final at the first Herts Sevens but that was in another time on a different planet. The game has moved on a tad since then and these days Herts Sevens is easily as strong a tournament as the Nationals was two or three years ago.

Plate finalists and overall sixth place may seem a poor reward, but fact is that we comfortably beat the runners-up - Kettering - and might well have taken their place in the final but for some uncharacteristic moments of indecision against Reading (the only game where an U17 team have lost all season having scored first*).

Admittedly we very nearly did it again against Eastern Furies in the Plate semi-final thanks to some "brave" coaching decisions by Joe who was determined to make a game of it. Or something.

But in the Plate final we certainly worried Paviors/Leicester Forest (who last season we'd have been unable to live with in a competition like this) - until we fell for a well rehearsed sucker-punch, the first of two tries from Emily Scarret (sp), who managed to largely avoid Nim's attentions this time.

Incidentally it was also noticeable that all the teams in our group made their respective finals - so it was indeed a tough draw. But all things considered today was a promising "rehersal" for the nationals next week. Who knows where we might get to... if we get a decent draw!

The U14s had a tough hill to climb before the withdrawal of the Theobald-Roes on Saturday, but thanks to the generosity of Aylesbury and Saracens they competed and held their own against some tough teams, surviving to put in a good performance against Becket at the end. Its a young team which lacks a bit of match experience - we need to do something about that next season...

*Before anyone says "Hertford" I choose my words carefully -we effectively fielded two different teams that day, one in each half.

PS: Phil's photos are now available - thumbnails and slideshow