The annual journey to 'Park' through the leafy suburbs of London always seems to take place on a warm, sunny day; 2009 was no different. The first sight to greet us as we walked along Richmond Road was the Saracens van that had carried the brightest and best of the Academy to the ground.  

For those of you that have not visited Rosslyn Park, it is a typical small rugby club venue, with a tiny wooden stand and charming, simple clubhouse. Above all, there is complete dedication by the club to the task of making the evening enjoyable for all their visitors. The refreshments are every bit as good as anything in the GP, provided by people that are eager to please. Dry Spring weather  had left the pitch devoid of grass, hard and dusty. Sarrie the Camel would have felt completely at home with the conditions; fortunately there were no serious injuries sustained during the evening. 

The format of the tournament is twelve teams  in groups of three, with the winners of the four groups going through to the semi finals. There are usually three or four GP teams in the competition, which are kept apart at the group stage, plus the very strong British Army team. The rest of the competitors consist of NL2/3 teams anxious to take a pop at the big boys, plus the likes of Cambridge and Loughborough Universities. Sarries' group included Richmond and the hosts, Rosslyn Park. 

This year the Floodlit Sevens was dedicated to the Help for Heroes charity, complete with a 'Heroes' team wearing sleeveless vests reminiscent of Fatboy's 7s attire, and strangely familiar red and white socks. But more of the 'Heroes' team later.  

The first match of the evening saw Quins win with consummate ease, next was Saracens against Richmond. The match started brightly enough for Sarries; Caprice, captain for the night, was soon on the scoreboard with a dazzling run for the length of the pitch. It is the first time that I have seen Caprice 'live'. He reminds me of a lean Jason Robinson; he was every bit as impressive as Cato was in previous Floodlit Sevens, I expect that we will see him pushing for a Ist XV place before too long. Sarries were well organised and efficient with good handling skills, but Richmond was no pushover. By half time Sarries had a solid lead 14-7, but the score would have been closer apart from a knock-on in the goal area by Richmond and very some dogged defending on the try line by Sarries.  

Early in the second half Sarries improved the score to 19 points, and all that was needed was a little possession to secure the win. But this is a Sarries team, and they had no intention of making it easy for the handful of supporters that were in attendance to cheer them on; they have learned their trade well from the senior squad. Sarries turned the ball over and presented Richmond with an opportunity to score which was gratefully received. So now it was 19-12 with a few seconds to go. Obvious tactics from Sarries, take your time and run down the clock. Unfortunately the restart rules are different in sevens and Richmond had a better idea. They hared back to the centreline,  kicked a grubber ten metres, collected the ball and raced for the try line. Meanwhile Sarries, who were still in their own twenty two,  woke up just in time to bundle the marauding Richmond player into touch on the five metre line. So, now it was the last play of the match and Sarries' throw. Easy, short throw and hoof it out. Wrong, long overthrow directly to a Richmond player who gathers and deposits the ball right between the posts. Final score was 19-19, and the match against Rosslyn Park would decide whether it was Richmond or Saracens to advance into the semis. 

W*sps convincingly beat their opponents and all the permutations of matches were played out leaving  Sarries vs Rosslyn Park and Army vs Help for Heroes as the last two matches of the group stage. In  the meantime Richmond had run in five or six tries against Rosslyn Park leaving Sarries a  tough challenge if they were to survive the group stage. 

Suffice to say, that the lads woke up and proceeded to put 40 points, without reply, on a hapless Rosslyn Park. It seemed very rude at the time for Sarries to treat their charming hosts in such a disrespectful manner. However, it did secure a place in the semi finals. The winning margin was the largest of the tournament and left quite a few Richmond supporters, who had made the short journey to Barnes, murmuring darkly about match fixing. 

Sarries opponents in the semi would be the winners of the last game, British Army vs 'Help for Heroes'. Now Bboonie could tell you that the Army always wins every sevens tournament. They have a legion of Pacific Islanders, all built like brick $%£) houses and with unpronounceable names, that terrorise all the other teams. I can still picture Russell, late of this parish, bouncing off one of these man mountains last August at the Middlesex Sevens.   

The match commenced and I was puzzled to see that the 'Help for Heroes' team was doing rather well. I was sufficiently puzzled to ask my daughter if I was hallucinating, and it was at that point a spectator leaned across and told me that 'Help for Heroes' was in fact the England sevens squad getting in a bit of match practice ahead of their forthcoming international at Twickenham.  They registered a convincing win against the British Army, leaving Saracens Academy to face England in the Semis. 

Quins advanced to the final, as they did last year, after soundly thrashing W*sps. 

It briefly crossed my mind that it may be a good time to leave, as Sarries were surely lambs to the slaughter, but Ms C H, who is made of sterner stuff, frowned and said that we were obliged to cheer the boys on. She was true to her word and made enough noise throughout the match to annoy most of Franklins Gardens. Her enthusiasm with the task in hand even caused a few neutral observers to join in with encouragement for the underdogs. The match commenced and for much of the first half the Academy boys did a great job, holding 'Help for Heroes', aka England, at bay. The ball spent plenty of time near the 'Help for Heroes' try line and Sarries Academy gained quite a few admirers around the ground. The most memorable moment of the half was a round of 'handbags' between Caprice and a couple of his England teammates. Inevitably, the greater strength of the England players eventually was rewarded with a couple of tries and Sarries ended the first half without registering any points.  

The points gap widened in the second half, but Sarries did have easily the best play of the match. From an interception Sarries ran the ball the full width and length of the pitch to score a stunning try.

The final score was 28 -7 to the England squad, but our U19s did us proud. It was a great night and we enjoyed what we saw, which was more than could be said for the Chelsea supporters in our carriage on the way home. As for the eventual Floodlit Sevens winners, I think you can guess.  

Saracens 

George Kruis
Jamie George
Owen Farrell
Henry Staff
Jamie Bache
Luke Baldwin
Dan Caprice
James Short
Jamie Hearn
Sam Stanley
Jake Sharp
Ben Ransom

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