Day 98 - New York 7's

Today, the Mountbatten Bandits triumphed in the New York Sevens tournament; the largest and longest running sevens tournament in the United States! A group of the Mountbatten Institute's finest athletes (ahem!) grouped together, with very limited preparation and entered themselves into the Mens Social League.

The first game did not bode well for the longevity of our tournament. In simple terms... we lost to a canadian team from Quebec called Les Chabels and entered into the Mens Social league 'bowl'. However, this was to be the last loss of our time on Randall's Island.

Apart from the slight dilemma of being momentarily disqualified from the tournament for not turning up to a game on time, there were no further issues with our progression (N.B - I refuse to accept this as our fault. We were on the side of the pitch waiting to be told by the field captain to enter the field of play. This communication never took place! Even after a number of enquiries from various members of our team asking when we should step foot on to the pitch). We won each game all the way to the final, with an end result of 5Wins and 1Loss.

Our concluding game was a dead heat at 12 - 12 when the final whistle blew and we found ourselves playing for the golden point. The Mountbatten Bandits received the kick off and held possession for five phases, until the ball was then passed with haste, down the back line to the final receiver, ME! I sprinted down the touch line with what seemed like the pace of a cheeter on fire, however in reflection, I probably resembled a donkey stuck in quick sand. Not to worry though, I was in support by the rest of my beloved team mates and I off loaded the ball for them to go on and score!

You would think that after the efforts that we had put in, we would all run and celebrate to the empowered try scorer. Instead we gave a measly cheer, pathetic punch to the sky and a hefty collapse to the floor.

Who cares though... WE WON! Massive congratulations to;

Antoni Domanski, Nick Abbott, James Greenwood, Will Cooper, Matthew Arundel, Dillan Montoute, Arron Foy, Ruari Wheeler, Dan Bedford, Toby (some bloke we met on a night out), Craig (a self entitled 'sevens prostitute' who played for us on the day - and about 6 other teams!).

The winning try! Good Effort Will.

The blood is from the first game, when I managed to bust my nose!