Red Bull 7s preview

Seven of the world’s best university rugby teams go head to head this weekend, as they take part in the Red Bull Uni 7s World Final at The Recreation Ground in Bath.

Having each qualified from national events, teams from England, Wales, Italy, France, Brazil and the USA descend on the south-west to participate in the event.

After a gruelling morning of group stage matches, the top two teams will battle it out in front of a sell-out crowd during the half-time interval of the Bath Rugby’s Premiership clash with Worcester Warriors.

The hosts, from the University of Bath, have taken the spoils of the last two Red Bull events, but face stiff competition from University of Exeter, Cardiff Metropolitan, Lindenwood University, Universidade Paulista, CUS Milano and Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour in this year’s edition.

Games start at 8:30am across two pitches, and run through to 13:14 with Bath facing Wales in the final group stage game, ahead of the 15:40 final inside the 14,000-seater stadium.

University of Bath

As automatic qualification came with being reigning champions, Bath come in to the competition with very little match preparation under their belt. However, this is the second time Bath will attempt to defend their title after successfully retaining it in 2015.

Despite beating Hartpury in the final of last year’s World Final, Bath face new and unfamiliar competition from the likes of Brazil and the USA, as the competition branches outside of Europe for the first time.

Their squad is not short on experience though, with second-year student Hugo Stiles having made appearances for Hong Kong at the Tokyo 7s tournament, in which he faced the likes of England, Wales, Fiji and Samoa.

University of Exeter

Exeter will be hoping they can go one better than last year’s English representatives Hartpury College and dethrone Bath, after Hartpury lost out in last year’s final.

The side from Devon will be making the relatively short journey to Somerset after winning the national qualifying event in Leeds earlier this year, which even threw up the surprise of playing the semi-final in snow.

Cardiff Metropolitan University

Boasting a number of players who featured as part of the British University 7s championship winning squad earlier this year, Cardiff Met head in to the competition with a wealth of experienced players.

Jack Fielding and Oliver Glasse will both be worth keeping an eye on, having helped Great Britain become world University champions earlier this year. Both players also have BUCS title to their name, having beaten Loughborough to nil in the semi-final, and defeating Durham in the final last year.

Universidade Paulista

The Sao Paolo based university make the trip to become the first ever Brazilian side to feature in the competition. Universidade Paulista, also known as UNIP, became the third team to qualify for the competition, behind Bath and Exeter, after winning their national tournament in their home city.

Among UNIP’s ranks is 29-year-old Diego Lopez, who is in his fourth and final year of a Physical Education degree. Lopez brings an immense amount of experience to the team, having played for Brazil’s national team since 2011, as well as having scored a try at Twickenham, a place he considers very important for rugby.

CUS Milano

Having beaten CUS Parma in the final of their qualifiers, CUS Milano earned the right to represent Italy at the international event having dominated their nation. Despite the side only being formed four days before their qualifying event, Milan conceded just 22 points in six games to take the Italian crown.

Their qualifying saw them beat Bologna, Catania and Udine in the group stage by 40-5, 49-0 and 27-0 respectively, before a 50-7 defeat of Perugia sent them through the semi-final. As their domination continued, they played Udine once again and this time sealed a 36-0 win, before downing Parma by 29 points to 10.

21-year-old scrum-half Carrado Colombo has had plenty of experience playing in the UK, after playing for the Italian National University side in both Swansea and Exeter.

Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour

The university of Pau sealed their spot in the competition for the second year running earlier this year, and will be hoping for a more successful outing than in 2015. On their last visit to Bath, they only secured wins against Dublin and Padova, and were sent packing in the group stages.

Lindenwood University

Having only qualified on the 26^th of August, Lindenwood are the final team to go up against the best university sevens sides in the world.

The university, from near St. Louis, Missouri, boasted an undefeated qualifying campaign, which included coming back from 14 point behind against the University of Utah in the semi-final. Then they saw off Arizona State in the final, held at Infinity Park, Colarado, to qualify for the world final.

The winning scorer in their semi-final comeback win, Christian Rodriguez, is one of the youngest players in the World Final at the age of nineteen, and with electric pace and quick feet, will certainly be a player to look out for in the group stages.