Middlesex Rugby Sevens

Esher 7s coach Chris Kibble said he was immensely proud of the players who had given their all against on occasions, professional touring 7s outfits, while chairman of rugby John Inverdale said it was the perfect way to kick-start the run-up to a new season in the Championship. 7s captain Jonny Hilton set an inspirational example throughout the afternoon, and will doubtless look forward to two more 7s events before focussing on the league campaign.

The competition, broadcast on Sky Sports, gave the club huge publicity, which allied with the recent staging of the Churchill Cup internationals, has further enhanced Esher's reputation. Director of Rugby Mike Schmid, following events while on holiday in Canada, said it had been a magnificent performance from a group of players whose commitment at a time of year when they would normally be enjoying some down-time had been 'fantastic, and a credit to them all.'

The squad at Twickenham were:

Geoff Griffiths
Dan Corvine
Sam Stitcher
Patrick O'Grady
Jonny Hylton (C)
Tom Loizides
Sam Edgerley
Arran Cruickshanks
Dave Slemen
Joe Brown
Neil Taylor
Ross Fowles
Standby- Richard Mill

Sevens matches are of 7 minutes duration each half. 16 teams in the first round playing in a knockout basis with the winners going into round 2, and the losers going into the plate competition... scores in brackets are those at half-time

Round 1:

1. British Army Vs Apache (5 - 5) 31 - 5
2. HFW Wailers Vs Esher (17 - 0) 24 - 26 Sam Edgerley - 2 tries, Geoff Griffiths and Johnny Hylton: 3 conversions by Johnny Hylton
3. Wooden Spoon Vs White Hart Mauraders (5 - 12) 5 - 24
4. Social Vibe Pups Vs Barking (17 - 0) 34 - 5
5. Brazil Vs Durham University (5 - 7) 17 - 14
6. London Scottish Vs Templars 7 RFC (12 - 14) 19 - 26
7. London Welsh Vs Plymouth Albion (14 - 14) 26 - 28
8. Olorun Sharks Vs Samurai (0 - 17) 0 - 31

Quarter Finals:

1. British Army Vs Esher (5 - 14) 15 - 21 Sam Edgerley, Tom Loizides and Joe Brown: 3 conversions by Johnny Hylton
2. White Hart Mauraders Vs Social Vibe Pups (7 - 19) 14 - 36
3. Brazil Vs Templars 7 RFC (12 - 12) 26 - 19
4. Plymouth Albion Vs Samurai (7 - 17) 7 - 40

Semi- Finals:

1. Esher Vs Social Vibe Pups (12 - 0) 12 - 5 Tom Loizides, Sam Edgerley: conversion by Johnny Hylton
2. Brazil Vs Samurai (0 - 7) 7 - 21

FINAL: of 10 minutes duration per half

1. Esher Vs Samurai (12 - 19) 12 - 55 Geoff Griffiths, Sam Edgerley: conversion by Johnny Hylton

Samurai, the strongest invitational team in the world, full of internationals around the globe, ran away in the second half, but it was still a great fight by Esher, who were still in touching distance at half time against a very big and powerful side.

Esher, as runners-up, won the Yarranton Salver with £5,000 prize money.
Sam Edgerley won the Middlesex Sevens player of the tournament.

For completeness sake, here are the plate competition results...

Quarter Finals

1. Apache Vs HFW Wailers 7 - 31
2. Wooden Spoon Vs Barking 31 - 7
3. Durham University Vs London Scottish 5 - 31
4. London Welsh Vs Olorun Sharks 12 - 24

Semi Finals

1. HFW Wailers Vs Wooden Spoon (7 - 19) 26 - 19
2. London Scottish Vs Olorun Sharks (7 - 12) 17 - 17; 22 - 17 sudden death try

Final

1. HFW Wailers Vs London Scottish (12 - 12) 41 - 12

Interesting to note is that HFW Wailers (containing Esher' scrum-half Jamie Gibbs), who ran away with the Plate competition, pocketing £3,000 and the Kennard Loft Trophy in the process; lost to us in the first round, despite being 17 - 0 up at half-time!!

Durham University are current British University Champions securing the title at Twickenham back in April this year, and Brazil are currently ranked 28th in the world, but are hosting the 2016 Olympics where Rugby will be a sport for the first time. Having ambitions for the 2019 (!) World cup, the drive for Brazilian rugby is well under way. They certainly won the hearts of the fans at Twickenham yesterday, who cheered every move they made and even booed tries scored against them by Samurai in the Semis!!