Latest report from the Dubai 7s
The Navy Sharks travelled to the Emirates Rugby Stadium in good spirits expecting a challenging afternoon of pool games in front of them but were confident of performing well. The first game was against Aqua Marine Services, who were an unknown quantity; they were obviously more focused because from the kick off they collected the ball, moved it wide to their winger who stepped back inside and sprinted 40 yards to score. The Sharks were finding it hard to gain possession and after repeated phases of attacking play, Aqua Marine scored again. However, the Sharks never let their heads drop and with a scrum in their opponents 22, the ball was moved to Marine Rob Lloyd who showed some silky footwork to beat 3 defenders to touch down near the posts - a try William Ryder would have been proud of! The second half didn't start well either for the Sharks as their opponents scored out wide, however they started to get some possession and created some space for Corporal Greg Bardon, who showed his pace to run in from the half way line. Possession was now key and with time running out the Aqua Marine side started to concede penalties in their 22. The Sharks tapped quickly and the ball found it's way to an emotional Corporal Gaz Evans who executed an outrageous side-step around his defender to score under the posts. The conversion was made and the Sharks claimed their first victory.
RN Sharks 19 - Aqua Marine Services 17
The second pool game was against a strong PriceWaterhouseCooper side, This time it was the Sharks turn to strike early with scrum half Marine Jonny Stephen collecting the ball from a lineout and exploiting the gap at the back of it to score near the posts. The PWC team moved the ball sideways to their speedster on the wing on several occasions, one of those found him with a bit of space and he duly scored from his own half. Not to be deterred, the Sharks turned around at half time and immediately exerted pressure on their opponents. Marine Rob Lloyd is not known for his driving play but he picked the ball up at the back of a ruck 10 metres out and powered his way to the line. The Sharks were looking comfortable and their defence was very well organised giving PWC no options and eventually forcing them into mistakes. After a quick turn over at the ruck, Marine Jonny Stephen spotted a gap and darted through to power away to his second try of the game. At the final whistle, Sharks had notched up another victory to put them top of their group.
RN Sharks 19 - PriceWaterhouseCooper 5
The Sharks now have one more pool match on Friday - a win will see them progress into the quarter finals as one of the favourites.