By Mark H
August 10 2006

It may only be Sevens, but tomorrow’s Coral.co.uk Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham represents a chance of silverware – something never to be sniffed at in any season.

The format’s changed somewhat this year – no more heroic semi-final victories over the British Army (as in 2003); no more Plate successes (as in 2001, 2004, and 2005); this time round it’s just the twelve Premiership clubs, split into four groups of three.  As in any Sevens tournament, the earlier you play your games, the more rest time you have when it comes to the business end of the day (witness the Army playing the first match in seemingly every tournament they enter), and it’s therefore typical of our luck in cup competitions generally over the last few years that Falcons will be the last side to start their programme of matches, at six minutes past one in the eighth game of the day.

 

This Falcons squad, however, has vast England Sevens experience, and has come across this sort of scenario before, and so the target will remain building on the successes in the classic Scottish events at Hawick, Melrose and Langholm from the back end of last season.  Led by a fit again Phil Dowson, the squad has pace oozing from every crevasse, and it’s more than possible that at some point tomorrow the seven Falcons on the pitch will all be featuring in the opening Premiership game at Northampton on 3^rd September.  Much of the focus would have been on Mathew Tait after his antics in the Commonwealth Games, but with a knee injury ruling him out, John Rudd makes a first Falcons appearance.  Of the others in the squad, if you haven’t seen development matches before, watch out for Eni Gesinde – normally a back row in the long form of the game – and Tim Visser, a centre and Sevens expert who will – repeat, will – feature in the first XV by the end of the season.  The full squad:-

 

1 Tom May

2 Mike McCarthy

3 Phil Dowson (captain)

4 Eni Gesinde

5 Ollie Phillips

6 Tim Visser

7 James Grindal

8 Anthony Elliott

9 Tom Dillon

10 Toby Flood

11 John Rudd

12 Joe Shaw

 

Falcons are in group D with last year’s runners-up Wasps, and Bristol.  With two qualifying for the semi-finals (and the pool winners getting an extra fifteen minutes rest), I expect that the winners of the Wasps-Falcons game will probably top the group.  That’s not to write Bristol off though, as they are fielding one of the strongest squads in the competition, and in David Lemi, include the second top try-scorer in last season’s Premiership.  Wasps are captained by Simon Amor, the England Sevens captain, and include Josh Lewsey, making his first appearance here since 2002.  I fully expect one of these three sides to be in the final later in the day.  The full programme is:-

 

Time	Game No.
11.00	1	A London Irish v B Bath
11.18	2.	D Gloucester v E NEC Harlequins
11.36	3.	G Leicester Tigers v H Saracens
11.54	4.	J London Wasps v K Bristol
12.12	5.	A London Irish v C Northampton Saints
12.30	6.	D Gloucester v F Sale Sharks
12.48	7.	G Leicester Tigers v I Worcester Warriors
13.06	8.	J London Wasps v L Newcastle Falcons
13.24	9.	B Bath v C Northampton Saints
13.42	10.	E NEC Harlequins v F Sale Sharks
14.00	11.	H Saracens v I Worcester Warriors
14.18	12.	K Bristol v L Newcastle Falcons
14.38	13.	1/4 Final Winners league 1 v Second league 2
14.56	14.	1/4 Final Winners league 2 v Second league 1
15.14	15.	1/4 Final Winners league 3 v Second league 4
15.32	16.	1/4 Final Winners league 4 v Second league 3
15.50	Entertainment	Mascot Sevens
16.05	17.	Semi-Final 1 - Winner Game 13 v Winner game 15
16.25	18.	Semi-Final 2 - Winner Game 14 v Winner game 16
16.45	19.	President's Challenge - British Army v Rosslyn Park
17.25	20.	The Final
17.50		Presentations

 

Elsewhere, I expect Gloucester to put up a strong defence of their title, whilst Sale may be a good outside bet, given that most of their squad will be in Biarritz.  If you can find anyone willing to give you 6-1 or bigger on Falcons though, rip their hands off!

 

It’ll be a party (not sure about some of the gimmicks planned though), and hopefully Falcons will be wearing the silly hats and celebrating with jelly and ice cream later.  Although if you see someone wearing a big burgundy West Indian sunhat and a baby, come and say hello – it’ll be good to see any of our new or old contributors.