Widden 7's 2008 Summary

Widden hosted their 5th annual 7s tournament on Saturday with 20 teams battling for the bragging rights.

Group A

Matson and Widden old Boys dominated this group and although the hosts topped the group, Matson had the best points difference. Cheltenham Saracens struggled in the first two games until all their players arrived, and then they played Minchinhampton and won 41 – 7. Defending champions Hucclecote had a close fought game with Widden, but the hosts won 14 – 7. Matson really put Hucclecote to the sword beating them 33 – 14.

Group Positions : 1st Widden, 2nd Matson, 3rd Hucclecote, 4th Cheltenham Saracens, 5thMinchinhampton.

Group B

Chosen Hill and Old Richians took control in this group, although when they went head to head Chosen won 8-7. As in pool A, the second placed team had the best points difference at the end of the pool stages. Third placed Old Cryptians went through into the plate after beating Gloucester Old Boys 2nd XV 19 – 0 and holding Tredworth to a 19-19 draw. Old boys 2nd XV went through in fourth place beating Tredworth 24 – 7.

Group Positions : 1st Chosen Hill, 2nd Old Richians, 3rd Old Cryptians, 4th Old Boys 2nd xv, 5thTredworth

Group C

In group C Ross-on-wye was the surprise package going through in top place after tying on points with Coney Hill 2nd XV, but they had a better points difference. Ross thumped Gordon League 28 – 12 and Hill thumped Cheltenham CS 40-17. Cheltenham CS went through in third place, beating Dowty 36 – 0. Gordon League lost to Cheltenham and Ross, but they beat Dowty and Coney Hill 2nd XV 24 – 12.

Group Positions : 1st Ross-On-Wye, 2nd Coney Hill Utd, 3rd Cheltenham Civil Service, 4th Gordon League, 5th Dowty

Group D

This group was the totally dominated by Dursley, they won every game, didn’t concede any tries and scored 141 points, with their best score against Gloucester Old Boys 1st xv being 45-0. Second spot in the pool was tied between Stroud, Old Boys and the guest side Storm All Blacks. Old boys went through in the end winning the points difference, Stroud went through in third place with the Storm All blacks taking the last spot in the quarters. The other guest side was the DLS lions, they had a hard day at the office losing all their games, but were unfortunate when their game with the All blacks was called off two minutes early, due to an injury when the score was 19-17.

Group Positions : 1st Dursley, 2nd Gloucester Old Boys, 3rd Stroud, 4th Storm All Blacks, 5th DLS Lions

Knockout Phases

Plate Qtr final

Hucclecote went out losing to the Strom All Blacks losing 17-12, Old Cryptians lost to Gordon League 41-10, Cheltenham Saracens lost to Stroud 38-0 and Cheltenham Civil Service beat Old boys 2nd XV 40 -7.

Cup Qtr Final

Widden Old Boys put Gloucester Old Boys out beating them 21 – 0, Chosen Hill edged out Coney Hill 2nd XV 15-14, Richians put out on form Ross 38-14, and Duesley maintained their winning ways beating Matson 36-12.

Plate Semi Final

Storm All Blacks dominated the first half against Gordon League, but league came back strong in the second half, but missed a conversion putting Storm All Blacks into the Plate final winning 19-17. In the other semi final Cheltenham Civil Service continued their good form thumping Stroud 40 – 7, setting up a intreaguing final.

Cup Semi Final

Chosen Hill took the lead against Widden, but a late come back by the hosts put them through to the final after a 17-5 win. The other semi saw Durlsey again maintain their great form beating Old Richians 24 – 0.

Plate Final

Two of the form sides in the Plate knockout stage met in the final, and as expected a very tight affair took place, with the Storm All Blacks beating Cheltenham Civil Service 19-17. All Blacks Captain Craig Harman was very happy with the effort put in by his team, praised his opposition and was thankful to his team sponsors Storm Roofing and Get Stuffed Catering.

Cup Final

Widden have been in every cup final since the tournament started, but this year Dursley seriously put them to the sword, with their youthful, fast and talented side, showing why they have only conceded two tries all day. Dursley attacked Widden from the whistle and went on to beat them a comprehensive 50 – 0. Coach Simon Lane was impressed with his teams performance, he knows the Widden players well after coaching them last season.

Widden would like to thank all teams for entering into the spirit of the competition, all referees for helping out, and all members of the Management team that assisted in running the tournament.