By Mark H
August 11 2004

96 days on from a Saturday in Sheffield, and the Falcons launch their 2004/05 season in anger with a trip to Twickenham on Saturday for the London Pride Middlesex Sevens.

Falcons’ recent Sevens record is good; a win in the Plate competition two years ago on a steaming hot Saturday was followed by a valiant but eventually fruitless attempt to win the Cup Final against a very strong Northampton side, in the process of winning their first domestic trophy (unless, for the older ones among us, you count the Daily Mail Anglo-Welsh pennant in 1976).

The glory that afternoon came slightly too early in knocking out the defending champions and winners at Henley the previous weekend, the British Army, in the semi-final. The inspiration that day was Ben Gollings; now he is gone, but may line up against Falcons in the semi-final should results go that way.

One of the quirks of the Middlesex event is how seriously the clubs take it (or not). Rob Andrew has openly admitted this year to taking it very seriously, naming a squad with four full internationals, three England Sevens players of the recent past, and two England Sevens stars of the very near future. The full squad is:-

Jamie Noon (captain)

Michael Stephenson

Joe Shaw

Tom May

Epi Taione

Mathew Tait

Ollie Phillips

Dave Walder

Hall Charlton

Phil Dowson

Very strong, and I’m sure that those stars of the future (Tait and Phillips) will more than play their part in supporting the pace of Stevo, Noonie, May and Shaw. When the draw was made, it looked quite a favourable one; that was until Gloucester went to the Stoop on Saturday and won the Compass International Sevens with a squad that, like this forthcoming weekend, included Paul, Forrester, Amor, Garvey and Simpson-Daniel. The full draw:-

Cup Round One

British Army v Rotherham Titans 11.10

Bath v Leicester Tigers 11.30

London Irish v Harlequins 11.50

Northampton Saints v London Welsh 12.10

Worcester v Loughborough Univ 12.30

London Wasps v Leeds Tykes 12.50

Gloucester v Newcastle Falcons 13.10

Saracens v Sale Sharks 13.30

Cup Quarter Finals

(1) Army/Rotherham v Bath/Leicester 13.50

(2) Irish/Quins v Saints/London Welsh 14.10

(3) Worcester/Loughborough v Wasps/Leeds 14.30

(4) Gloucester/Falcons v Saracens/Sale 14.50

Our match, to me, is undoubtedly the highlight of the first round, simply by the quality of player that will be on the pitch. I’ll stick my neck out and say that the eventual winners will come from that match, and probably the Plate winners as well. The bottom half of the draw which Falcons find themselves in looks to be the slightly weaker of the two halves, and I expect the Army and probably Harlequins to contest the semi final in that top half, having overcome Bath and Northampton respectively.

For those wanting a comedy moment, the boot is very much on the other foot this year as far as Northampton and Leicester are concerned. Last year, the large Saints support got behind London Welsh as the late invitees took out the Tigers in round one. This year, Saints have the Welsh; look for the Tigers fans looking for one back (if they haven’t all left by then, that is…)

Sky Sports 3 are showing the first round from 11am, breaking for coverage of the South Africa v New Zealand clash, before returning for the semi finals from 4.10 (Falcons’ semi, should we get there, will be at 4.30, with the Cup Final being at 5.10).

Sevens can be a beautiful game played well; winning, as pointed out by former US Davis Cup tennis star Brad Gilbert, sometimes has to be ugly. I’d swap the beauty for the booty and see the trophy heading up the A1 on Saturday night. If you’re going, I’ll see you there!