RNRU Royal Navy Rugby Union

After their early success at Bury St Edmunds last week the Sharks welcomed 4 new players to their squad and picked up a second trophy at the Hartpury 7s on Saturday.

With seven changes to last weekend's team sheet, the Team Managers and Head Coach were keen to integrate the new members and took advantage of the facilities at Imjin Barracks, Gloucester to have a 90 minute training session on Friday afternoon. 

Drawn in group 4, alongside the hosts Hartpury College, the Sharks' first match was against the Warpigs.  They won this match 19 -12 and went on to a second victory against Hartpury winning 24-19.  The final group match, against Team Reko Turtles, did not go so smoothly and after going down 21-0 in the first half, the Sharks rallied to a 35-10 final score, putting them second in their group.

In the quarter final, the Sharks started well against the Rabbitos (the Group 3 winners) with the half time score 7-7.  However in the second half they couldn't make their pressure count and ended up losing 14 - 19, after a break by the Rabbitos in the dying moments.  This meant the Sharks were now participating in the Plate competition for the 2nd week running.

By this point in the day the Sharks were definitely in the swing of playing 7s rugby and were able to put their next opponents, the Bamboo 7s, under pressure, capably closing down space, playing steadily, not rushing or forcing play, coming out on top in the Plate semi-final, winning 33-26.

In the Plate final the Sharks were quick to take the lead against the Toucan 7s, with a 22-7 half time lead.  At the start of the second half the Toucans made a slight comeback but the Sharks recovered quickly putting more points on the scoreboard, comfortably winning 27-14.  This makes it two plate trophies in two competitions, a great start to the 2016 season!

Team Manager Pony Moore said "It is great to see the team progressing so well, integrating new team members while remaining competitive.  I am really encouraged about what we can achieve throughout the rest of the season as the squad starts to settle down."

Jarrard Hayler led from the front again, successfully getting up in front of the opponents, re-gathering the ball from the restarts time and time again.  He was ably supported by the rest of the team and credit has to go to Todd Crofts for the height and accuracy he got from his kicks which set Hayler up so well, plus his ability to manage the game from the back.

The Sharks have a short break now before their next competition - the Swindon 7s on Saturday 18 June.  However, some of the players should be in action at the RNRU 7s competition on Wednesday 8 June.

Squad: Adam Gallagher, Ben Jeacock, Eldon Myers, Jack Power, James Griggs, James Sutton, Jarrard Hayler (c), Joe Morsen, Luke Cooper, McCoy Turner, Roko Kurusasa, Todd Crofts

Images by Alligin Photography / © Nathan Moore