You are here: Match Reports / Sevens/Murrayfield 3rd June 2007
| Regular readers of this column will know that the term Blue Riband event is not used lightly, but this was the Blue Riband event of the season. Hill’s were selected to compete alongside* New Zealand, South Africa etc by virtue of being the form team on the Scottish 7s circuit. To prepare for the journey to the wretched East, Captain Paterson advised his troops to obtain the necessary inoculations, change all cash into Travellers cheques and ensure their travel insurance was up-to-date. The team saw changes from the week before. Out went Mahindru, Marshall and Stafford (“kidney” infection**). In came Dewar (recalled to the team boy position) and Muir’s pal Elgin. Hill’s were also able to boast world rugby’s strongest man, D Walker. In their opening match, Hill’s struggled in the smoggy Edinburgh air before dispatching Lismore 4 tries to 2. Todd, Rose, Inverurie and Muir all contributed an “Ulster fry”. Player of the match was the Lismore #13 who demonstrated his versatility by playing and refereeing at the same time. Rose was seen taking notes. Following intensive oxygen treatment and with Bell assuming the role of Sergeant, standing on the sidelines urging his troops to the slaughter, like a Sergeant Slaughter, Hills were back to their imperious best disposing of Auchincruive 6 tries to 1 in their second match. Cahoon and Todd each contributed a brace with Muir and Pitlochry also scoring. Hill’s faced the toffs from St Andrew’s Uni in the semi-final. In frantic opening exchanges Hill’s were indebted to Todd for a try saving tackle that kept the scores level. Seconds before the break “wizened, 40 year old” Cahoon outpaced a Tarquin to open the scoring and strike a psychological blow. This gave Hill’s a platform to express themselves and they launched wave after wave of fluent attacking manoeuvres that saw Paterson, Muir, Todd and Cahoon cross to give the Hill’s an easy 5 tries to 1 victory. In the final Hill’s faced a Heriots team and were again indebted to Todd (a member and co- founder of THE ELITE, the world renowned training group), this time hounding the opposition into dropping the ball over the try line. Sadly, Hill’s were unable to capitalise on this break and narrowly lost 3 tries to 2 with Muir and (eventually) Dewar scoring. Hill’s received their precious from some Scottish international but the big attraction for the punters was the opportunity to have their photo taken with D Walker, the universe’s strongest man. Moving effortlessly from the tournament, Hill’s segued to the Murrayfield wine bar and then onto the Haymarket bar where, predictably, the team finished runners-up in the pub quiz. Dewar, at last justified his selection with a number of well-timed runs to the bar. Following what has been a long hard season the 7s squad are grateful to the incoming management team for extending their start of pre-season training to September in recognition of their efforts on behalf of the club. Squad – Cahoon; Dewar; Fisken, D; Paterson; Muir; Muir’s pal Elgin; Rose; Todd; Walker. BiFFR – Luigi’s Polish Chip Shop. In what is thought to be world record time, Bell consumed some 8,000 calories in 9 minutes. His banquet consisted of a double sausage supper, his WAG’s pizza, Fisken’s pizza, Paterson’s WAGs chips and for one frightening moment, Paterson. Bell awarded Paterson a 2-star rating describing him as gristly and hard to swallow. * Same postcode. ** A source close to Stafford revealed he has the type of “kidney infection” that requires treatment at the Sandyford clinic. |
