With nine men’s teams entered into the elite tournament, 16 in the social tournament and four women’s teams, it was going to be a busy day for Winchester RFC’s director of rugby Matt Stagg and his 25-strong volunteer support group.
Winchester RFC alone had entered one team in the elite competition and eight in the social one.
Early in the day Winchester RFC registered its first victory by winning the touch-rugby competition.
Though they lost the social final 19-31 to Jamaica UK Development, regular Winchester followers were delighted to see the club’s senior coach Gaz Martin score a try under the posts. Jamaica’s captain said after the match “We played in the Hartbury sevens tournament last week and lost every match, but at least we got to know each other. Our attitude today was completely different, and it was a great feeling to win.”
The climax of the tournament came in the cup final between White Horse Sevens and Rewa Rugby 7s UK, a team of Fijian players based in the UK. “This was the first time we’ve played together”, said their coach Sikeli after the match, “so it was a great feeling to win.”
Sikeli and his team will hope to progress to the final at Twickenham in mid-July.
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