The arrival of the Middlesex Sevens is always a welcome weekend on the rugby calendar. For those who can't remember the last time they crossed the street to watch the shortened form of the game, it signals that the summer is nearly over and the real rugby will soon be here.
Bring on the mud and guts, they'll say. Bring on the winter drudgery. For those of a sunnier disposition who see no harm in enjoying a smattering of entertainment to punctuate an afternoon on the pop with the boys, it provides the perfect chance to enjoy a two-day combination of just that.
The tournament has been reinvigorated this year with only eight Premiership clubs included to make room for the likes of Kenya - so impressive on the international Sevens scene - the Samurai, the HFW Wailers, the White Hart Marauders and the Gilbert Pups.
Whilst some of them might sound more like team names from your work fantasy football league, to Sevens aficionados they are institutions on the burgeoning national and international circuit and have earned their weekend in the limelight.
Quite how well the Pups will fare is open to question given they were whistled up just a week before the tournament after the withdrawal of Scotland. The usual behind-the-scenes politicking that permeates the Sevens underworld has seen to it that a number of top players who might usually spend their summer playing for some of the big names of Sevens have been prohibited from taking part.
One Pups insider told me this week: "It's a joke. All season we have had an excellent side. Then the RFU gives us seven days' notice to get a squad together for the biggest tournament of the year. We need a 12-man squad and only seven of our regulars have been released."
Talk about being handed a ticking time bomb. The Pups have juggled it well, though - including the recruitment of Lions wing Daffyd James - and will doubtless bloody a few noses on Saturday.
Love it or loathe it, the Sevens scene in this country is growing apace. The recent mini-series staged by Premier Rugby was a stab at installing their version of cricket's Twenty20, but we see enough of those 12 clubs in the winter, the summer should be a chance for the more exotically named sides to bask in the sun.
It's a chance for teams with enough backing and enough pull to play their own brand of fantasy rugby, pool together some of the best flair men in the game and form them into crack units to play in tournaments such as the successful Bournemouth jamboree, or the fast-growing Manchester tournament.
It’s not quite rugby's answer to the IPL, but it is as close as it gets. The Samurai in particular, have formed something of a dream team for the weekend, counting England sevens legends Tony Roques, Ben Gollings and Simon Amor in their squad alongside south African trio Chase Minnaar, Marius Schoeman and Ryno Benjamin.
Kenyan pair Collins Injera, Humphrey Kayange have also been tearing up trees for the last few seasons on the IRB circuit and - bizarrely, given their own nation is playing in the tournament - will be wearing Samurai colours at Twickenham.
On this occasion though, it doesn’t seem to matter. May the peculiar triumph at Twickenham on Sunday. There is enough drudgery ahead of us.
READ DANNY COYLE EVERY WEEK AT RUGBY.CO.UK
Date published :
12 Aug 2010 - 10:00:22
08/02/2012 01:48:25
