The weather forecast for the 18th May in Manchester was cold, grey and a potential of 50mm rain. We arrived at 8.45am and the event organisers had planned well with excellent parking facilities and well-staffed registration facilities.
We were attending in order to cover a new invitational sevens team; RedPanda7s. As they were competing in the elite competition the day looked daunting; one of our competitors had already described their pool as “the pool of death”
The organisers had recruited well for the elite competition with 10 teams divided into two pools; the determination of who was in each pool remains an open question!! In pool A there appeared Les Bleus, Worcester Warriors, Irish Exiles,RedPanda and Samurai. Pool B was made up of the RAF,Northumbria,Esher, Cam Warriors and Irish Wolfhounds.
Many felt that Pool A was going to inflict pain with the two favourites considered to be Les Bleus and the Irish Exiles. Les Bleus were described as the French National Development Squad. As the day progressed there was a visible difference between the two pools with Esher and Cam Warriors storming ahead in Pool B.
Pool A was not so clear cut. The first game of the day saw a fascinating encounter between Irish Exiles and RedPanda. A very good game played by both teams, eventual winners RedPanda.
Les Bleus were fast and strong but throughout showed very poor discipline. Nonetheless the quality of their rugby during the pool stages was very attractive.
In Pool A, Les Bleus took the group easily but 2,3 and 4 were hard fought between Samurai, RedPanda and Worcester Warriors. All three were very evenly matched. The top two in each pool went through to the Cup – Les Bleus, Esher, Samurai and Cam Warriors.Those placed third and forth went into the plate –Worcester Warriors, RedPanda, Irish Wolfhounds and Northumbria.
The game of the day was the cup semi-final between Les Bleus and Esher. It was high tempo and it was Esher who came out of the traps the best. An upset looked on the cards until 3 minutes before the final whistle when Les Bleus overpowered them for a win.
The plate final was between Worcester Warriors and RedPanda7s. a close game but too many mistakes by RedPanda gave the game to Worcester Warriors. The Cup Final at MR7's looked tasty between Les Bleus and Cam warriors but the French side blew Cam warriors away in a very one sided final. There were great celebrations by the French Team at the final whistle.