The annual 'Gate Sevens' Tournament took place at
Stoneygate Rugby Club on the 10th May 2003. Teams from around the
country converged on the Club with both Men's and Women's tournaments
to compete in. This was the fourth year that the event has taken place
attracting 16 mens teams and 16 womens teams including
representation within the mens tournament from the Barbarians,
Loughborough, Hinckley and Leicester Tigers whilst in the womens
tournament teams included Wasps, Saracens and Richmond. In
typical English fashion, one minute it was bright sunshine and in the
next the rain pours down !!! - albeit the showers were I'm glad to say
somewhat infrequent !!!
This was the first tournament that the Alumni
Invitation 7's had entered. For those that are not aware the Alumni
Invitation 7's rugby team was founded in March 2003 by Tony Rolt
(former Director of Rugby, Nottingham RFC and currently 1st XV Coach,
Derby RFC) and is ostensibly a fundraising vehicle for rugby players
with spinal injuries. Andrew Blyth (patron of the Alumni 7's), broke
his neck 3 years ago playing for Sale Sharks in the Premiership. As a
promising player who had already represented England A, it cut short a
very promising international career. Since the injury his progress has
been amazing and he is now able to walk without sticks.
Thanks to the generous backing of Stephen Muir of
EMT Healthcare, Beeston, Nottingham, The Alumni will be able to
attract players across the league spectrum to take part in domestic
tournaments all over the UK. In this inaugural year The Alumni are
raising money on behalf of Tom Woolrich the Nottingham 1st XV hooker
who severely damaged his neck in a league game against Esher RFC
earlier in the year. Tom is known to many of the current Alumni squad
who have kindly given their services.
Players for this season’s Alumni 7’s squad have
been drawn from Leicester Tigers, Coventry RFC, Nottingham RFC and
Derby RFC, several of whom have represented their country at a variety
of levels. From Derby we have Ed Odell, Stuart Bailey and Rod Muir.
The organisers and
backers of the Alumni 7's squad see this season’s tournament entry
as merely a starting point. Once upon a time The Samurai, Marauders,
Public School Wanderers and the Pacific Islanders started from grass
roots. This year the Stoneygate Sevens. Next year … Dubai, Kinsale,
Lisbon … who knows !!!
Here in the Stoneygate tournament the team finished
second in their Group league which meant that they progressed into the
Quarter Final stage of the tournament (top 2 teams in each of the 4
Groups went into the Qtr Finals). After beating Leicester Tigers 50 -
05 in the Group stage the team looked and felt confident as they
entered the straight knockout stages of the competition. In the Qtr
Finals the team were leading right upto the last minute when the
Barbarians found the smallest of gaps and managed to break through the
defensive line to score a try. The game was tied but if the conversion
was made then the Barbarians would take the win. As soon as the ball
had been slotted between the posts the ref blew the final whistle !!!
- Game and tournament over but all in a most enjoyable day with some
good rugby being played. The lads did some fund raising as well and as
soon as I know the final figure I'll mention it on this page.
As always my camera was with me to capture the
action and on this page you'll find a selection of both general photos
and also match photos. Just click on a photo to enlarge it.
