Thanks to their fine showing in Darwin in the World’s hottest Sevens, the ULR International team head for Vegas next week to take part in the Las Vegas Intenational Invitation Sevens tournament.

The Samurai management were sweating in Darwin, hoping they would make the semi finals and with it a share of the prize fund. They went one better and having beaten the Australian 7s team and the South Sea Drifters along the way, they breezed into the final where they were beaten by a very physical and robust Borneo Eagles.

Their share of the prize money guaranteed that they would be able to travel to Las Vegas to take part in a tournament that runs along side the IRB World Sevens Serie

The Elite 7s tournament will include well know invitation 7s team Les Bleus form France, Fiji Uprising of course from Fiji as well as top club sides from Canada and the States.

ULR Samurai International Team, Darwin 2010

Borneo Eagles from Malaysia were the surprise package at the Hottest Sevens in Darwin last weekend by taking the main title at Austar Park for the first time.

The Eagles, sixth seeds for the weekend, beat the ULR Samurai International team 36-21 in the final claiming the $23,000 (AUD) winner's cheque in the process.

The Borneo Eagles put in a fine semi final performance when they beat Wakimbizi Sevens (The Kenya 7s team heading to Wellington for the WSS) 19-14 in a real nail-biter.

Samurai also caused upsets of their own as they defeated Michael O’Connors, Australian Sevens team 29 – 10 in the quarter final and then went on to beat top seeds South Sea Drifters 33-7 in the semi-final in what was an ultra-competitive weekend of Sevens.

Borneo set their stall out to be as aggressive as possible in the main final in an attempt to disrupt the free flowing Samurai. The Samurai teams top try scoring winger, Josh York was concussed after only 2 minutes which seemed to upset the skillful Samurai team as the Eagles tactics paid dividends. The Eagles converted their territorial advantage with three bruising tries to race into a 19-0 lead.

Samurai pulled two tries back before the break to excite the crowd but then as Samurai lost 2 more players to injury, their comeback rhythm was thwarted and 3 further Borneo tries in the second half killed off their hopes of taking the title.

The ULR Samurai International team head to Las Vegas in 3 weeks time to participate in the LV invitation tournament that runs alongside the WSS tournament that follows the Wellington leg of the IRB series.

The ULR Samurai International team will soon head off to the World's Hottest Sevens tournament. The tournament takes place in Darwin Australia on the 23rd/24th January and it looks like they will face an even tougher task at this years event than they did last year.

In last years event the Samurai team went out at the semi final stage where they were beaten by Waisale Serevi's The South Sea Drifters. The Drifters were then narrowly beaten by Samoa who were on their way to take part in the Wellington Sevens the following weekend.

With the Kenyan National team entering this year who, like Samoa will use the tournament as a warm up for the Wellington Sevens. They will be Hot favourites at the Hottest Sevens.......

The Samurai Team will include Dom Shipperley and Damon Murphy from last year's Australian Sevens Team, with these 2 sure to want to make an impression, with the Australian Team also participating at the event.

Northampton Saints and Samurai 7s Rugby player Chris Ashton, helped himself to 2 tries yesterday (10/10/09) to help Saints to a historic 31 – 27 pts win over Munster at Franklins Gardens in the European Cup.

Ashton after a dip in form at the end of last season, was asked by Samurai Sevens team manager Terry Sands, to play for the Samurai team in Amsterdam and Sands mentioned to Ashton how he did exactly the same the previous year with Cardiff’s Andy Powell when he had also suffered a serious loss of form.

‘’Look at what playing for the Samurai Sevens did for Andy Powell’’ Sands said to Ashton!! He’s now a British Lion and the same could well happen to you!

With the kind approval of Northampton Saints DOR Jim Mallinder, Ashton accepted the invitation and became the Amsterdam 7s tournament top try scorer and with it began his journey back to form. From Samurai 7s team to European Cup glory in 4 months!!!!

What price Powell (Cardiff) to face Ashton (Saints) in the European Cup Final??

The ULR Samurai squad had an enviable team sheet on Saturday when they played in the Middlesex Charity 7s in front of 18,000 fans at rugby’s headquarters at Twickenham. Captained by former England 7s skipper Simon Amor, and coached by Joe Lydon, the squad was made up of international sevens players from around the world. Despite having only one day to train and come together as a squad, the Samurai reached the final, losing out to London Irish.

ULR Samurai beat Northampton Saints in the opening round with Springbok Marius Schoeman scoring within the first minute of the Samurai being on the hallowed turf. Two more tries followed by Humphrey Kayange, the Kenyan 7s captain, and Willy Bishop meaning the Samurai recorded an opening win of 17 12.

Second up was a quarter final appearance against Leeds. Samurai improved upon their opening victory and looked to be coming together, showing some great displays of team work in the first half. Another try from Kayange, a couple by Collins Inerja, and an impressive team effort that saw Tony Roques cross the line meant the Samurai progressed to the semi finals, beating Leeds 26 12.

ULR Samurai faced Newcastle Falcons in the semi final of the Cup competition who included Simon Amor’s former England 7s team mate Charlie Amesbury in their line up. The Falcons got the stronger start but Inerja came back followed by one from Julien Palmer to lead 14 5 at the break.

Amesbury scored in the second half narrowing the gap but another try from Inerja helped Samurai to a final 21 17 victory and a place in the Middlesex 7s final.

An impressive line up from London Irish stood in the way of the Samurai and their first Middlesex 7s victory with three of England’s Armitage brothers on the pitch, as well as England's Nick Kennedy, Paul Hodgson and former England 7s regular Pete Richards.

Irish started well and certainly had the rub of the Green from the referee J P O'Doyle on this occasion. An unusual amount of posession enabled Irish to lead 19 0 at the break. A Yellow card for Sailosi Tagicakibau early in the second half gave Samurai 2 minutes to claw things back and a quick succession of tries from Inerja, Bishop helped even things up and a post whistle score from Peceli Nacamavuto bought the score line even closer. But time ran out for the Samurai and despite coming close and giving everything they had, it was a case of too little too late for the invitational side.

Speaking after the final, coach Joe Lydon heaped praise on his side despite the loss, “Of course we are disappointed but I am delighted with the heart and passion the players gave, especially in that final. We had two days to come together and were playing quality opposition. London Irish had a great side and played very well. They deserved to be in the final, as I think did we. It has been great to be involved with this squad of brilliant individuals and a pleasure to be back at Twickenham. Hopefully we have done the ULR Samurai proud and more importantly, the memory of our great friend Colin Hillman who we played in honour of today.”

Former England 7s captain Simon Amor has not played a single second of rugby sevens since retiring from international rugby at the Emirates Airline London Sevens in May 2007. But this weekend sees him return to Twickenham to lead out the ULR Samurai team who face Northampton Saints in the opening round of the world’s most famous charity sevens tournament.

Looking ahead to the tournament, Amor said, “I am excited but am also interested to see how the old legs cope with playing sevens again! I am pleased that my youngest son has finally decided to sleep better over the past few weeks so at least I should be rested for this weekend. I have been busy doing pre-season training with London Scottish where I am player coach – although the emphasis tends to be on the coaching side rather than the playing when I have the choice!

“It is hard to say if I have missed sevens since retiring. I have some wonderful memories and had some awesome times but I am enjoying my current job at Sport England, and enjoy being involved with London Scottish.

“I am really looking forward to working with Joe Lydon again who was my England Sevens coach before Mike Friday. Joe is a fantastic coach and I am really pleased he is on board too. I hadn’t even considered ever playing sevens again but when Samurai asked me and told me who was involved, and that it was in honour of the late Colin Hillman I knew I wanted to be involved.

Amor will captain a side of international sevens players including several South Africans who won this year’s IRB Sevens series. He said, “I am looking forward to playing alongside some of the brilliant players who I was lucky enough to face on the international sevens circuit. I have already had some email banter with Marius (Schoeman) who is a tremendous player. I am disappointed that Ben (Gollings) hasn’t been able to make it over due to injury as it would have been really good to play alongside him again. I can’t believe he is still playing!”

This weekend sees the ULR Samurai return to Twickenham in the Middlesex Charity Sevens.

With an impressive line up of international Sevens players and coached by former England Sevens coaches Mike Friday and Joe Lydon, the ULR Samurai face Northampton Saints in the opening round on Saturday. The squad, who have played in the Middlesex Sevens once before back in 2000, will play in honour of former Wales 7s Coach Colin Hillman who died from cancer earlier this summer.

Simon Amor, who led England to a historic four Hong Kong Sevens titles before retiring from international rugby in 2007, has not played sevens since and is looking forward to returning to the big stage of Twickenham. “Any rugby player loves the chance to play at Twickenham, and the Middlesex 7s is always a great start to the new rugby season. I haven’t played a minute of 7s since retiring from England in 2007 so I am not sure how my legs will cope but this was a fantastic cause and I can’t wait to take to the Twickenham pitch once more.”

Alongside Amor will be three of the victorious South African Sevens squad who won this year’s IRB Sevens World Series. Marius Schoeman, Ryno Benjamin and Chase Minaar from South Africa will be joined by international sevens players from Australia and Kenya.

The successful former England 7s trio of Joe Lydon, Mike Friday and Simon Amor will be reunited once more at the home of England Rugby in this month’s Middlesex Charity 7s tournament. Lydon and Friday have both coached England to successful Hong Kong 7s titles, whilst Amor led his country to all four Hong Kong victories as well as a Commonwealth silver medal in 2006.

Lydon, now Head of Rugby, Performance & Development at the Welsh Rugby Union, will once again partner Mike Friday but this time to coach the ULR Samurai team in this year’s charity 7s at Twickenham on 15th August. Amor, who retired from England 7s in 2007, will pull on his boots as skipper of the invitational Samurai team which is made up of leading 7s players from around the world.

Looking ahead to a return to Twickenham, Lydon said, “The Middlesex 7s is always a great day in the rugby calendar and I am excited to join up with Mike, Simon and what is developing into a world class squad of players under the world famous ULR Samurai banner. We may have limited time to prepare the squad assembled from around the world but I’m confident that with the quality of players in a squad that includes three of this year’s IRB 7s Series winning South Africans, the Samurai can play the type of 7s rugby that will put a smile on the faces of the thousands of fans who will attend the Twickenham tournament.”

The ULR Samurai side will play in honour of Colin Hillman, the former Welsh 7s coach who died last month from cancer. Lydon said, “Colin was a wonderful character and extremely passionate about all aspects of rugby, especially 7s. This is a great way of paying tribute to him and should we be lucky enough to win the tournament we will be donating money to the charity set up in his name.”

Amor last featured in the 2006 Middlesex 7s when his club side Wasps lifted the trophy. Since leaving Wasps Simon, who won the inaugural IRB Sevens Player of the Year title in 2004, has been coaching and occasionally playing at London Scottish, and alongside Friday, has been coaching the England Women’s 7s team. Amor said, “Any rugby player loves the chance to play at Twickenham, and the Middlesex 7s is always a great start to the new rugby season. I have got used to Mike being my assistant with the England Women’s team so I am sure he is relishing the chance to tell me what to do again as my coach!”

He continued, “I haven’t played a minute of 7s since retiring from England in 2007 so I am not sure how my legs will cope but this was a fantastic cause and I can’t wait to take to the Twickenham pitch once more.”

Friday coached England alongside Lydon before taking over the reins in 2004, and led England to a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. He said, “I am looking forward to working alongside Joe again and seeing what the squad can do in the short time we are together. We have some great talent in the squad, and I am delighted that Simon has agreed to captain. We face Northampton Saints in the opening round who we are expecting to be tough, but hopefully we can pull together quickly as a squad and do everyone proud.”

The ULR Samurai International RFC Invitation team are honored to have received an invitation from the Middlesex Charity Sevens organisers to participate at Twickenham on August 15th.

The Samurai teams excellent record this season with competition wins in Stirling, Bournemouth, Manchester and of course for the 5th consecutive year, Amsterdam. Has obviously led to such a prestigious invitation where Samurai will face the 12 Guinness Premiership teams at the home of English rugby.

Simon Amor has agreed to Captain the side with Samurai chairman Mike Friday taking the Coaching reigns as they replicate the same roles that they occupied for the 2006 Commonwealth games in Melbourne, where England were narrowly beaten by the All Blacks to take the Silver medal.

The Samurai team have been fortunate enough to grace the hallowed Twickenham turf on the only other occasion that they had played in the Middlesex Sevens in 2000 when the late Colin Hillman coached the side to a first round victory against a Wasps team that included none other than Mike Friday himself…

The draw in 2000 proved to be a tough one as Samurai then faced a Penguin International side in the quarter final which included Waisale Serevi, Craig DiGoldi, Cameron Pither and Eric Rush in what was at the time quite possibly the World’s best Sevens team. The Penguins ran out winners by 14 points to 7 and went on to win the tournament at a canter with no other team coming as close to causing an upset as Samurai had been.

The 2009 competition is also going to be a big ask for a true invitation team such as Samurai where if the assembled team is lucky, they may just get one training session in ahead of their first game!

The ULR Samurai International Team continued their fine form this season to take the inaugural Manchester 7s trophy on Sunday (12th July) where they beat their old rivals the Marauders in a pulsating final in front of a large crowd.

The ULR Samurai players came together for the first time on Thursday, and after a brief training session went straight into the pool games on Saturday where they met On Fire 7s, Sedgley Tigers and the Koru Kamikaze. The team was a little inconsistent in terms of performance but came through the pool with maximum points with 3 outright wins.

Unfortunately the pool games were not without loss as they lost their influential playmaker Philip Tuigamala to injury in the final game against Sedgley Tigers.

On day 2 it was straight into the business end of the tournament where the ULR Samurai faced Akuma Scorpions in the Quarter final where it was plain for all to see that the Scorpions team was totally committed to the cause. The game went from end to end but the Scorpions took their chances well and with the score at 10 – 0 to Scorpions at half time an upset was on the cards. The Samurai team came out with a vengeance in the second half with Chris Brightwell taking control with some powerful running. In the 11th minute after tries from Wade and Hunt, the Samurai finally took the lead with Brightwell going over to make the score 10 – 15 to Samurai. With a minute and a half left and from a somewhat strange refereeing decision the Scorpion centre stole the ball from a ruck and ran in unopposed as the Samurai players looked on waiting for a whistle that never came.

At 17 - 15 The Scorpions defended with their lives and made it very difficult for Samurai but with 20 seconds left Brightwell pounced on a 50/50 ball to pass to Sasulu to go in under the posts to make the final score 17 – 22 to Samurai.

Next up it was Sale Sharks in the Semi Final and the game was just as close and as exciting as the quarter final. England 7s Commonwealth games player’s Dave Seymour and David Tait made it difficult for Samurai and Selorm Kuadey was always a threat.

Sale took a 5 – 0 lead after a period of pressure from Samurai but then Samurai’s Captain Ed Cocker started to show his experience as he rallied his men. The score changed regularly and with only a minute left Samurai once again found themselves behind this time by 15 points to 12 and as Angus Martyn turned the ball over just inside the Samurai 22 a planned move was called and the long kick and chase option worked perfectly as Chris Wade won the chase with Kuadey to touch down under the posts for a great win.

And so to the final where 2 evenly matched invitation team’s who had both improved with every game, took the field. The Samurai team knew it was going to be a tough ask as the Marauders team was this time brimming with experience. The evergreen Howard Graham was as ever running the show and in Craig Hill and Ifan Evans the Marauders had 2 members of the Wales World Cup winning team to call upon.

The Marauders took a 7 – 0 lead through Ifan Evans as he powered his way to the line after 2 minutes followed by a quick reply from Samurai’s Chris Brightwell. With the score 7 – 5 to Marauders at the turn around the game was excitingly poised. The Marauders extended their lead to12 – 5 as their Fijian centre squeezed through the tiniest of gaps on the 10 minute mark. The Samurai team again bounced back with the same never say die attitude that they had shown all through the tournament with Sasulu scoring under the posts, for Samurai player of the tournament Chad Shepherd to convert to bring the score to 12 points each. Nathan Reid then went close but just lost control over the line after a great last ditch tackle from Craig Hill. The excitement continued with an unconverted try for the Marauders and then for Samurai’s Chris Wade to return the favour to make the scoreline 17 – 17 to Samurai each with a minute left on the clock and the possibility of extra time becoming more and more of a possibility. Chris Brightwell had other ideas however and a slick blindside pass from Shepherd enabled him to power his way over and as Shepherd made good the conversion the final whistle sounded with the ULR Samurai team victorious in what was an excellent final.

The Samurai’s excellent Sevens season continued with another fine victory but this victory was of great importance to the team and management, as their ever present Coach Colin Hillman had sadly passed away last week. Colin will have certainly been proud of the way this victory had been achieved with team spirit, camaraderie, passion and determination in abundance.

Next stop Newquay…………….

Kenya Press Release - click here

It is with great regret that we must report the death of Colin Hillman (48) after battling fiercely against pancreatic cancer for over 2 years.

Colin has been associated with rugby throughout his life which see him play for the Barbarians, Swansea, South Wales Police, Bridgend Sports, Merthyr, Wales Sevens, Schools and Youth and when he retired from playing he continued his involvement with rugby where he coached Wales Sevens, Spain Sevens, Nantymoel, Bridgend Ravens and of course Samurai International RFC.

Colin was passionate about Welsh rugby and was respected by coaches the World over. He was a hugely popular character with players and coaches alike and his unbelievable knowledge of the Sevens game was utilized by Wales despite his illness, right up to and including the RWC in Dubai this year. Colin was immensely proud when the Welsh team lifted the Rugby Sevens World Cup having been instrumental in recent years helping to develop many young Welsh players.

Colin traveled the World with the Samurai rugby team helping them to unprecedented success, giving up his own time on a completely voluntary basis for the Game he so dearly loved.

Terry Sands, founder of the Samurai Sevens team said “Colin was my closest friend and I thought the absolute World of him, he has helped me with the Samurai team for many many years and without him the team would never have seen the success that they have. It was a privilege to work with him and to have him as my dearest friend. He will be sadly missed by everyone that knew him”

Colin Hillman 1961-2009