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51st Sunshine 7's a Roaring Success
The Sunshine Sevens has evolved over its fifty one year
history, to the top charity Rugby Sevens Tournament in
the South. The event now marks the start of the Sevens
season and is used by many of the top teams to try out
their new players and tactics prior to the lucrative
series of International tournaments. Spectators at
this year's event witnessed a mixture of high quality
rugby, interlaced with usual mixture of fun that
epitomises the Sunshine Seven's.
Friday 25th - Schools Tag Tournament
The tournament started on Friday with the Under 10's
school tag mixed rugby, with six local primary schools
competing against each other in a round robin event. It
was encouraging to see all the players enjoying playing
rugby so much, many for the first time. The schools
taking part in this round robin event were Escots, St Mary's, Halsford Park,
Blackwell, St Peter's and Copthorne. The
teams were equally split between boys and girls, with
each school playing each other in a league format, with
8 points for a win, 4 for a draw, 2 for a loss and 2
for each try. In a close contest
which was only decided on the last game, Escots were
declared the winners. Looking at the children's faces
throughout the afternoon it was clear they had all won.
It is the second year
the schools tag rugby event has taken place as part of
the larger tournament.
Final Positions
Estcots - 72 points
St Marys - 56
St Peters - 54
Blackwell - 52
Halsford Park and Copthorne - 44
All the schools were presented with a cut glass trophy
with the winners each receiving a medal. Estcots now go
through to the South of England finals in June to
represent Mid Sussex, in the RFU national
tournament. Well done Escots and all the other children
taking part.
Next year the club hopes that all the town's primary
schools will be able to take part to make this a truly
memorable event.
Saturday 26th - Ladies Event with U15 & 18 Girls 7's and U15 boys 10's
On Saturday morning we saw the Under 18 and Under 15
girls' tournament. Solent Sirens and London
Irish won the Under 18 and Under 15 girls event
respectively.
At the same time the Under 15 boys
played a ten a side contest, with Lewes taking the honours.
Four teams each played three games in a mini league
format with 8 points for win / 4 draw / 2 defeat - and
2 points for each try.
Results
Lewes 29 grinstead 0
Hove 5 sussex 29
Lewes 17 sussex 15
Hove 17 grinstead 15
Grinstead 5 sussex 41
Lewes 29 hove 5
Positions
Lewes 50 points
Sussex 46
Hove 20
Grinstead 12
County league winners Lewes were very impressive and
their match with sussex was "fantastic".
There was a large crowd on pitch three to see a great
afternoon of intense ten a side rugby
Each team received a cut glass trophy
The Intermediates and Juniors also had their presentations
for the year and there were a lot of enthusiastic up and coming players and, hopefully,
future club members. The Under 7's and Under 6's provided a report and some
photographs that can be seen by selecting
U7 & U6 Presentation Report.
This was followed in the afternoon
with the Senior Ladies event with the strongest field
yet competing for the prestigious Steve Cairns
Trophy. Last years winners Pink Ba Ba's (an invitation
side of top players from around the country) were here
to defend their title, but were up against some very
tough opposition in the shape of the Pirates, Free
Spirit Rugby Babes, our own East Grinstead Ladies and
Norwegian Ba Ba's ( a touring side from Norway ) to name
just four of the sides of the twelve sides.
Early favourites were the powerful Free Spirit Rugby
Babes, who are a mainly Fijian side with several
players from Wasps and the Army and were muscling out
all the opposition. Pink Ba Ba's, although playing good
rugby, looked as the draw progressed would be overrun
by the Free Spirit team if they met in the final. East
Grinstead although beaten by the Pink Ba Ba's in the
first round progressed onto the plate final with a
notable victory over Basildon Babes in the semi's,
where they were beaten by a good Ashford side.
The final as predicted was between the Pink Ba Ba's and
Free Spirit Rugby Babes, both of whom had to battle
hard just to get there, such was the strength of this
years contest. Then to prove everyone wrong, the Pink
Ba Ba's turned on an excellent display of rugby in the
face of hard tackling and direct running from the Free
Spirit side. Although smaller in stature the Pink Ba
Ba's took the hits and came back for more, running out
12 - 10 victors in a thrilling final.
The scene was then set for the Men's competition on the
Sunday, with 32 teams getting set to battle it out for
the Lady Astor of Hever Rose Bowl. After last years
thrills from the Army and their Fijian stars, many of
the crowd turned up just to watch them perform and were
hoping for a repeat victory. The Army were under no
illusions about the size of the task ahead of them,
with Leicester Tigers star, Seru Rabine bringing a
Fijian side down with him, Kaiviti Krusaders along with
Roslyn Park, London Scottish and Irish Exiles all
intent on taking the Army's Crown. New to the
competition were dark horses, Ruck-u-Spartans, fresh
from victory in the Hong Kong 10's, showing early on
that they were going to be a force to be reckoned with.
As the contest progressed the form book was torn up,
with Wooden Spoon beating Kaiviti Krusaders 15 - 5 and
Ruck-u-Spartans beating the Army 31 - 14 in the semi
finals, to face each other in the final. The final
proved to be a nail biting spectacle, with Wooden Spoon
scoring a try in the final second of the game to win 15 - 12.
Check
the full results
for the Mens Tournament.
There was a host of talent on display with some
fantastic individual performances, but the unanimous
decision for the
Pennyfarthing Jewellers (in association
with Oris) Player of the Tournament award went to young
17 year old Sam Edgerly of Ruck-u-Spartans. Who
mesmerised the crowd with his turn of pace and natural
rugby ability, a young Jason Robinson in the making.
A superb weekend of rugby once again all for a good
cause raising money for local children's charities. The
club is hoping to raise £10,000 this year for their
nominated charities and have been working closely with
the 'Wooden Spoon' (the RFU charity) Raising money for Chailey
Heritage School & Opportunity playgroup.
Garry Gordon the tournament organiser commented "This
certainly ranks as one of the best tournaments we have
had at the Sunshine Sevens - the quality of the sides
just gets better every year. It's brilliant that we are
still able to attract National and International players
with the ultimate prize of raising money for our local
Children's Charities."
Behind the scenes there were an army of helpers, whose
efforts often go unrecognised and without whom such
events as these would not take place. The Rugby Club
would like to thank all of these for their assistance in
making this the best 7's yet. A special thanks to the
Rydon Group, for their continued support of this event
over many years and to all their other sponsors and
advertisers.
Our other Key event to support the Sevens is our annual
Golf Day and Auction - a great Day out. This year it will
be at Chartham Park on Friday 1st August. Get it in you
Diary - a day not to be missed.
Our grateful thanks to our sponsors with out whose
generous support this event would not have been the
success it was.
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