By Mark H
August 13 2003

Sevens. You know, that game played by Fijians in hundred degree heat who throw the ball the width of the field every pass and can all run the length of the field in two seconds flat, and do so in a way that is marvellously entertaining. Alternatively, it's played by generally unfit blokes for whom getting two passes in a row means a success, are down to walking pace after two seconds and whose ineptitude can be marvellously entertaining.

Both sorts were at Henley on Sunday. This coming Saturday, Saints will hopefully be more like the first than the second in their attempt to win the London Pride Middlesex 7s at Twickenham for the first time.

For a lot of the thousand plus Saints fans going down to HQ, it will be the first chance to see our boys since May. Of the new signings, only Shane Drahm is in the twelve, which will be reduced to ten before Saturday. Of the new haircuts, look our particularly for Johnny Howard's bleached haystack look! Nick Beal captains the squad, which is:-

Beal, Drahm, Howard, Bruce Reihana, Andrew Blowers, Oriol Ripol, Jon Sleightholme, Darren Fox, Grant Seely, Ben Russell, James Brooks and Mark Tucker.

The only doubts currently are over the fitness of Brucie (tweaked muscle) and Brooksey (head knock), both of which were sustained at Dry Leas. When asked on Sunday night, both confirmed that they should be fit for the weekend, and as experienced sevens players, both would be an asset to any of the 16 teams competing.

Saints start at 1.00 against Rotherham, with the winners going on to play either Sale or Saracens in the quarter-finals at 2.40. Other first round matches are:-

11.20 Gloucester v. British Army
11.40 NEC Harlequins v. Leeds Tykes
12.00 Young England v. London Irish
12.20 Newcastle Falcons v. Loughborough University
12.40 Sale Sharks v. Saracens
13.00 Rotherham v. Northampton Saints
13.20 Bath v. London Wasps
13.40 Leicester Tigers v. London Welsh

On paper, Saints appear to have the weaker half of the draw, especially as St Helens pulled out to be replaced by London Welsh. Main opposition in the bottom half appears to come from Wasps, who were beaten in last year's final by Bradford Bulls. The top half of the draw is a different story, with the match of the round (and to be honest, unless it's a Saints-Army final, what I expect to be match of the day) being the first - a very strong Army side taking on a Gloucester side with Paul, Garvey and Amor.

The Army side is undoubtedly the quality team on show (as proved at Henley), but as seen last year, they can be beaten, with the key appearing to be not to fall too far behind so you have to play catch up. Being in the very first match is also a great advantage, meaning that the winners of that, if they go all the way, will have a longer recovery time than any of the other teams.

Of the other non-Premiership teams, London Welsh and Young England are unknown quantities, being late additions and academy teams respectively, whilst Loughborough Uni won the qualifying tournament to get here, and pushed Saints close on Sunday with, what I am told, an understrength team.

Of the Premiership sides, Tigers are taking Ollie Smith and an academy team, the aforementioned Gloucester side look strong, Leeds include Matt Cardey (he of the electric hair in 2000) and Liam Botham, and Newcastle look to have picked their fast men and have the ever-dangerous Ben Gollings in their squad.

Putting my head on the block, I'd expect the quarter-final line-up to be Army v Quins, Irish v Loughborough, Sale v Saints, and Wasps v London Welsh. The best four first round losers will go into the Plate competition, won last year by a Joe Shaw-inspired Newcastle side, so if the worst happens (and I think a Mr Jorgensen will be wanting to prove a point), then the smaller the defeat the better.

Sky are showing the whole day on Sky Sports 3 from 11 in the morning, with the final taking place at 5.10. I would hazard a guess at Saints still having an interest in the twenty minutes of manoeveures that follow.

And just think - after this the 15 man game starts again!

Saints best performance in the past was being beaten in the 1993 by Wasps - ten years on, is the trophy finally going to come back up the M1?


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