Our trip to Hampshire saw us try our hand at 7s rugby for the first time. We made the journey from our Marwell base camp up to Alton RFC. We had an hour or so of running our two teams through the basics of 7s and playing a warm up match against each other.

We mixed up our two squads to ensure they had a decent mix of forwards and backs. We were also joined by Troy and Oscar to give us two squads of 10 players which were drawn in separate pools. All our opponents were Hampshire teams that we had never come across, so this really was a trip into the unknown for us. The teams looked the part in their magnificent tour kit, but would they back it up on the pitch?

Team A were up against the hosts in the tournament’s opening match and they quickly got to grips with this format of the game. Christian’s distribution saw the likes of Oscar and Luca grab a number of scores. The game was won by 10 tries to 1, and the gauntlet was laid down to Team B who were up next. Team B played Petersfield and won a closely fought match by 2 tries to 1. The boys were definitely on fire, but could they sustain it?

There was a little rest period as the other teams played each other before the last round of pool games. Team A had the luxury of knowing they were through to through to the cup semis, which allowed Christian to rest his injured foot. Portsmouth won a feisty encounter by 4 tries to 2, meaning they topped the pool.

Team B went into their match with Andover knowing a win would see them top their pool and meet Team A in the cup semis. They were up against Andover, who looked a well drilled team in their all black kit. Troy led by example taking the game to Andover and the likes of Jack and Maxim found plenty of space out wide. The game was won by 5 tries to 1.

The first cup semi saw Portsmouth edge out Andover and await the victors of our ‘domestic battle’ in the cup final. The game was closely contested and each time team A edged into the lead, Team B equalised. With energy levels starting to drop, after a long afternoon (and a late night!), the last thing we wanted was extra time - especially given that Portsmouth were sitting and resting whilst all this was happening... Team A managed to grab the decisive score so it fell to them to pit themselves against Portsmouth to seek to win the tournament, and avenge their earlier defeat.

The boys were really up for the final, and all the Vandals players and parents united behind the 8 fit players remaining in Team A. The starting 7 quickly ran into a lead, which helped settle the nerves. Two more tries followed and it was clear that Portsmouth were in a state of shock. The opening score of the second half saw the Vandals open up a 4-0 lead and victory was in sight. The Pompey scrum-half grabbed a couple of late tries, but it was too little too late. As Portsmouth kicked off for the final play two scores down, the squad knew the cup would be theirs. The ball was caught, booted into touch and the celebrations could begin!

Thanks to Alton for organising a great tournament. Well played to all the teams, and especially Portsmouth for an entertaining final.

There was even time for an ‘Uckfield’ moment (seasoned tourists know what that means) when the announcer asked us to make our way to the control for the presentations to ‘Vandals as runners up and Portsmouth as winners’. A correction swiftly followed before the teams received their awards ahead of making their way back to Marwell for a celebration dinner.

Excluding our ‘in house’ semi, we managed to beat all the teams at the tournament scoring 23 tries and conceding 9. There were 7 further tries in our semi. We had a load of different scorers – I’m sure Greeny and Theo scored competitive tries for the first time this season.

All of our players did magnificently in their first ever 7s tournament. The squad was as follows:

Arlen, Ben, Bradie, Christian, George, Gianluca, Harry, Henry, Jack, James, Joe, Luca, Maxim, Oscar, Theo, Tom G, Tom L, Tom P, Troy, Wills

We had magnificent support from our parents that included two bananas, an X-dragon and Sweaty McTavish. Murph had posted some great photos on the website!

Thanks to Stu and Dave for all their work and support in putting such an enjoyable the tour together.