The Army Men’s Sevens team is back in action this week with a double hit of tournament action.
On Thursday evening the squad takes on Ealing Trailfinders (1800hrs) and Scimitar Storm (2040hrs) in the pool stages of the London Floodlit Sevens at Rosslyn Park, before heading to the south coast to try and keep the Bournemouth Sevens trophy in military hands.
The UK Armed Forces team won the Bournemouth Sevens 12 months ago as their warm-up to lifting the World Military Sevens title a few weeks later. There was a healthy red shirt representation in the UKAF squad that weekend, and this year they will be back in Army colours to take on some of the best Sevens teams in the country in front of up to 30,000 spectators.
Head Coach, Cpl Joseva Nayacavou (R Signals) says that this week’s tournaments gives the team an opportunity to build on the semi-final at April’s Melrose Sevens.
“We are very grateful to the Army Rugby Union for enabling us to have enough time to prepare for both the London and Bournemouth Sevens tournaments,” he says.
“The open trial we held in Catterick was a success. We had 30 players turn out, and seven new players that were identified will run out for the first time as part of the Development Squad at Rosslyn Park.
“There is a lot of information that we have gathered about us as a team from Melrose. We hope to rectify the mistakes that we made there, as well as introduce some fresh ideas for this week, and I’ve got to give full credit to the players for buying in to what we are trying to build.
“Army Rugby has a history of being involved at these two well organised tournaments over the years, and we’re looking to go and perform at a level that Army Rugby Sevens is renowned for.”
Tickets for the London Floodlit Sevens are available for £10 from londonfloodlitsevens.com
Ticket information for the Bournemouth Sevens Festival is at bournemouth7s.com/tickets
Words © New Dogs, Old Tricks
Header and featured images – Alligin Photography © Craig Watson
