Army Gun Down Samurai At Ledbury
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LEDBURY CHARITY SEVENS – SUNDAY 11th MAY 2008
The ULR Samurai International Team were pipped at the post on Sunday where they narrowly lost in the final to the British Army Fijian 7s Team.
The Army team, fresh from their Wednesday night victory in the Rosslyn Park Floodlit 7s where they beat Harlequins in the final, ran out winners by 24 points to 21 in a pulsating final that could have eventually gone either way.
Australian 7s stalwart Tim Walsh led the Samurai team on Sunday where they disposed of Ledbury, Apache and Bridgend on their way to the final.
The Samurai management selected a blend of youth and experience for the Ledbury team.
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Samurai, in keeping with their young player development policy, gave new Samurai caps to Jackson Wray (Saracens) Chev Pennycook (Newbury) and James Honeyben (Wasps) although Samurai were unfortunate to lose one of their most experienced players - Rob Thirlby - after the first game.
Tom Tombleson of Newbury was selected as the Samurai Team’s player of the tournament, as he turned in a fine performance in Samurai colours.
Team:
Tim Walsh, Tom Tombleson, Russell Earnshaw, Rob Thirlby, Chris Cracknell, Chev Pennycook, Tom Hockedy, Jackson Wray, Jon Hylton, James Honeyben, Ken Aseme, Simon Hunt.
Samurai Unstoppable In Carrick
Samurai International RFC clinched the top prize at the annual festival of rugby hosted by Carrickfergus RFC in Belfast on May 4th and they did so in some style.
The invitational 7s side, made up of players from across the British Isles, showed how the game should be played as they swept most of the sides away and lifted the holmes Salver in the Manvik Premier Sevens Event.
Samurai placed themselves well in Pool A, and saw off the defending champions DHL Irish Exiles to go through as group winners.
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In the first Semi-final they met Mel's Exiles - yet another of those classy invitational sides. In an exciting affair Samurai secured their place in the final where they disposed of the Ulster team, coached by sevens specialist himself, Ryan Constable 45 points to 28. Simon Hunt of England Sevens was Samurai top scorer helping himself to a total of 9 tries.
Samurai Team;
Nick Wakely (Capt), Russell Earnshaw, Richard Gill, Chris Cracknell, Craig Hill, Nicky Griffiths, Rob Thirlby, Rhys Jones, Paul Thirlby, Simon Hunt, Simon Frewin.
Coach; Colin Hillman - Manager; Terry Sands - Physio; Remi Mobed.
Treu To His Word For Amsterdam
There will be a South African flavour to the Samurai International Team selected for the 2008 Amsterdam Sevens tournament on May 17th / 18th to be held at the National Stadium in Amsterdam.
Paul Treu has agreed to Coach the side and will stop off in Amsterdam on his way to Twickenham, where he will be coaching the South African team for the London leg of the World Sevens Series. Paul recently returned home with his victorious team after beating New Zealand in the final of the Adelaide Sevens.
Paul will also help select the side with the team being taken from a 24 man Cape Town training camp the week before departure.
Terry Sands the Samurai International RFC Team manager said “Paul and I have known each other for several years now from my England 7s Manager days and we have worked together for the last couple of years in helping to develop young players. Paul and I took a similar team to Darwin in January where we were beaten by the Aussie Spirit team in the semi final”
The ULR sponsored side is likely to include Schalk van der Merwe who will hopefully Captain the team in Amsterdam.
Samurai International will also participate in the Ladies tournament this year and will enter a team which will also have an International flavour. All of their players will be English qualified and will play under the name Samurai St George. Simon Amor and Mike Friday will Coach the team in Amsterdam in what promises to be a very tough tournament with sides from New Zealand and Canada also taking part. Final selection will not be possible until the week before the tournament but it is hoped that Claire Allen, Rachel Burford and Shelley Rae will be amongst those selected.
URL Samurai 7s Facebook Group Now Online
Keep up-to-date and interact with the Samurai 7's team on the Samurai 7's Facebook page. You can see photos and videos of the Samurai's in action and leave messages and start discussions. You will need to be a member of the Facebook site, if you are not sign up now and do not miss out. To join the group go to - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7585589042
Darwin 7's "The Hottest 7’s in the World" January 2008
Day 1;
The temperature was already at 33c when the first game of the tournament started at 12.20pm in the hot Darwin Summer sun, humidity was at around 95% so the players were feeling the pinch before they even ran onto the field. The first day of the tournament saw the Samurai’s triumph over the 1st Brigade (35-0), The North Queensland Cowboys (22-0) and The Dingoes (43-0).
Day 2;
If at all possible day two was even hotter than day one with the hottest temperatures for this event being reached well into the mid 30’s with nearly 100% humidity. All the early seeded teams had progressed well from day one with Aussie Spirit and ULR Samurai having scored the same amount of points, 110 and not conceding any. The South Sea Drifters were living up to there favourites tag from day one scoring 135 points and conceding only 12, the dark horses Gordon had it a little tougher on day one but still progressed undefeated.
Samurai had a relatively easy first up match, winning 64-0 against the lowest side from the South Sea Drifters Pool, Campbell town Harlequins. With 10 tries and 7 conversions the Samurai wrapped up their most impressive display of the weekend building on from the previous evenings display against the Dingoes. The Samurai team progressed onto a tough quarter final against the Australian Legends.
The Samurai’s had to wait 4 hours the game against the Australian Legends in the severe Darwin Heat. Legends took the game to the Samurai in the first half trading tries to leave it level at Half Time at 7-7. The 2nd half was a much more disciplined display by the Samurai’s who ran out eventual 26-7 winners. The Samurai’s booked a Semi-Final place against the Aussie Spirit team.
Unfortunately the writing was on the wall for this match as the Aussie Spirit team had punished there quarter final opponents Brisbane Fiji 35-0 and the stuttering performance of the Samurai in there win over the Australian Legends. The Samurai’s went down and out of the Darwin 7’s 7-14 to the Aussie Spirit.
The final saw the Aussie Spirit going down, losing to the impressive South Sea Drifters side, 27-12.
To the full match reports written by Cameron Waghorn Click here.
The Nelson Mandela Bay 7'S
The Nelson Mandela Bay 7's is now the biggest tournament of its kind in South Africa. This year's event took place from the 14-16th of December at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth. The ULR Samurai 7's team progressed into the quarter finals after winning their pool by drawing with Zondela Old Boys and beating Grahams Town Brumbies, Gauteng Lions and reining champions Progress RFC. Samurai's proposed match against the French Froggies was cancelled due to a late no show by the French team.
After a successful first day a quarter final against the SA Legends was awaiting the Samurai side on day two which they won impressively 40-5, to set up a semi-final encounter against the British Army. As the tournament had progressed the Samurai side had became a real crowd favourite, and had performed admirably and were now a definite contender for the cup.
The semi-final against the Army started off with the Army controlling territory and possession which made it very difficult for the Samurai's to get into the game. Trailing 21-7 at half-time, it looked like the game was over flood but the Samurai team showed Great Spirit and determination as they came out fighting in the 2nd half, playing some of the best 7's rugby of the tournament to bring the score to 21-19 with a min to go. With the Army side now resorting to time wasting tactics, the Samurai team kept pressuring which eventually led to Ockie van Zyl, who had just ran the full length of the pitch to score the previous try, intercepting a Fijian pass. With the try line beckoning the Samurai support watched in horror as his tired legs gave way and was bundled into touch for the whistle to go and the Army breathing a huge sigh of relief as they ran out 21-19 winners. The crowd applauded what was arguably the game of the tournament. The other semi final saw the Emerging Boks beat UPE 7-0, with the fresher Bok team going on to beat the Army 25-14 in the final.
