Club

Follow Old Colfeians!
Sign up!

The OCs Newsletter will provide regular updates of the clubs activities, please sign up below:

SIGN UP!

We are an open club

We are an open club, and welcome all to become members.

7ís Champions of Essex

A second silver winning outing for the newly reinstated 7ís contingent from the club, known as the The OCís. A name partly chosen to add a sense of mystery to the team but secondly and more importantly because its alarming the number of people who struggle to pronounce Old Colfeians.

After several attempted drop-outs on Thursday evening; chief offenders Charlie Clay and Jake Mallen. Saturday morning we arrive at the club with 8 Old Colfeians and 2 of Tom Chapmanís mates, to make our way out to Essex with a team with an average age of sub 20. On arrival at Romford and Gidea Park Rugby Club which due to recent weather looked more like sub Saharan Africa we registered and were informed that we were in the stronger of the two groups and were to play 5 group games before the knock out stages even started. First game we play against a Sidcup/Footscray mix called the Gun Runners (Awful name). With most of us still in the mindset of playing 15 aside rugby we struggle and were 3 tries to 2 down after the first half. We drew level in the second half with brilliant support play from Enis Kemal leading to a well worked try. Unfortunately we were too deeply set in our 15 aside mindset and lost to a very average side. We thought we could be in for a long day made even harder by the 30-degree heat. Our second game was against the aptly named Hardly Athletic, a game where we settled into our 7ís style and could score at will. Ending in a 60 points to nil win, pretty impressive in 14 minutes. After getting our confidence up we played The Willie Riders (Very dubious name). This was the first game that we got to see Matthew Wekpe in full flight; heís a professional 100m runner. He didnít disappoint. We were successful, winning by a couple of tries, apologies for the vagueness we played a lot of games. Our penultimate pool game was against Hollywood 7ís, an invitational team who had previously played at the Dubai 7ís. And were unbeaten in the tournament thus far and had nilled the gunrunners (who we had lost to in our first game). Hollywood scored a try immediately from the kick off, but didnít convert, we almost replied with Matt taking on their captain and winning, running in to score a try and dropping the ball over the line in-between the sticks. He made up for it by running in 2 other tries, 1 min to go and we were leading by 3 20-17, and won a penalty in front of the posts. Ignoring the spirit of sevens we opted to take the points to ensure they needed a converted try for the win. At 23-17, during last play of the game Hollywood found an inch of space and broke from their own try line. Tom Chapman chased back and made a crucial try saving tackle leading to Alex Gallagher recovering the ball just as time was up. Alex who had been playing the sweeper role had already made several try saving tackles in the game and in previous games. We had beaten the clear tournament favourites and had one last game before the knock out stages. Our final group stage game was against Amlin 7s of Amlin Insurance. A strong team, however we were still riding on the high of beating Hollywood and we eased to a win. The game, however, was blighted by two injuries. Jake Mallen was given the ball with space on the left wing, he was full flight but then pulled up short of the line with a hamstring tear, he then makes it to the line but proceeds to drop the ball!! Matthew Wekpe was also felled by a torn hamstring. So with 8 players we top our group and get a by through to the semi final. A very non-descript game against East London Rugby club. Which we went on to win. We borrow two subs from the good lads at Amlin and proceed to the final, a game against our previous opposition the ever confident Hollywood, who ask to play the final out in a 7 minute aside game rather than the usual 10 minutes reserved for the final. After exchanging a number of attacks, we found our selves 2 points clear at half time thanks to a brilliant try from Sam Wallis who managed to fend off 2 covering defenders and run in under the posts. Brilliant defence throughout the second half, notably from Charlie Clay and Jon Muir ensured that with 2 minutes to go we were still in the lead. Josh Livett (Not brother of Ed) bemused Hollywood defenders with a brilliant step and ran in under the posts to seal the win and clinch the Essex Charity Sevens. A massive thanks to all the boys who played on the day especially the two lads Alex and Tim who we borrowed from Amlin. Two trophies from two competitions for the The OCís 7s team. Making them probably the most successful team in recent Old Colfeian history. Hopefully at least one more outing to come for this year for the boys. Photos can be found on www.essexsportsagency.com

Date: Mon 19th Jul, 2010Author: Johnnie Mac

Previous items

+ Read older articles