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Things are pretty rosy for English club Esher RFC at the moment. The boys from Surrey dominated their 15-a-side regular season clinching National One and were duly promoted to the Championship – just one league under the Guinness Premiership.

Not surprising for a club who aren’t afraid of playing an attractive brand of rugby, Esher have also enjoyed success this summer on the sevens circuit. They won the Middlesex Club Sevens and were of course runners-up at RugbyRocks, the opening leg of the National Sevens Series.

This weekend sees them hit Russia’s Moscow for the European Club Sevens. Robin Heymann met up with Sevens Coach Chris Kibble to get the lowdown.
 

Chris how did you get the call-up to be part of this weekend’s European Club Sevens.

It was an invitation from the RFU who needed a representative from England. We won the National One Championship and performed well in taking the Middlesex Club Sevens locally, so we’ve built a bit of a reputation in sevens. We thought why not?!

What do you know about the event?

Well not much really! We’ve been told to just meet at the airport and someone will pick us up! The quality will be pretty good as there is just one representative from each country. It’s something a bit different, getting the boys out of comfort zones and be good for their development. We’re big fans of sevens at Esher so we’re looking forward to it.

Will the squad be stronger than it was at RugbyRocks?

It will probably be stronger thea the RugbyRocks tournament, which went well for us. We had one or two injuries from the end of the regular 15 season, so we had guys missing at Richmond. They are back for us this weekend. Sam Stitcher is a regular first team number openside returns and Simon Gaynor is also in. Winger Tom Loizides has been playing for Cyprus over the summer and will play.

Has the success Esher enjoyed last season given momentum for the sevens?

I think so yes. Some of the guys might have a rest in between seasons but some are feeling confident and want to continue their form. Guys like Neville Edwards usually play second team here but he is a very good sevens player. It gives them more confidence and is great for the core skills.

And your win at the Middlesex Club Sevens in August means you will play some part in the actual Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham?

Yeah definitely we will have to manage it right for August 14 as we have important practice matches with the 15s also. I’ll talk to ‘Schmidy’ (Mike Schmid, Esher Head Coach) to make sure we have a good representative squad though. There is some depth here now and success breeds success.

And would you like to feature again on the National Sevens Series?

Yeah it would be something we would welcome. It helped having a good run but it has almost become contagious, as there are few boys that didn’t play and want to be part of it. So hopefully we can be even stronger if we get a chance next time. It’s going to be good breeding ground for players from all clubs and someone like England Sevens coach Ben Ryan must be happy about it.

You talk about sevens ‘developing’ players. Can you give examples?

The obvious ones are your handling and running lines and defence, if you don’t make your tackles you are shown up. For the forwards it is a great insight to be able to learn more about a push and drift defence. It’s also interesting from a psychological point of view.

Psychological? What do you mean by that?

In sevens you’re playing, then you have some down time, then you’re up again. It’s a rollercoaster. How they relate and come together in their preparations and actions with the squad outside the rugby is fascinating. It’s like a programme within a programme.

Your players really get to know each other well over a weekend. We will also begin to understand their mental weaknesses. Are they energy sappers or are they mentally strong?

What is your own background in sevens?

Before coaching back in the day I used to play a lot of sevens with clubs and other invitational teams. I played and captained at Blackheath. I love the mix between the physical impact of the game but also what goes on between the ears. You need that intelligence but also have ability to put the body on the line and work very hard for one another. 

Any favourite events that stick out?

I personally really enjoyed an event like Melrose. It’s the real essence of the sport and they put extra stands in there to make it a big event. When I played you would get a lot of the top players involved. It’s a very special feel there.

Any tournaments you enjoyed abroad?

Well it’s funny really when players here talk about the Amsterdam Sevens as that was an event I played in many years ago. Those kind of events are something that people can now get scouted at and impress so they are picked for the National Series.

Best of luck from UR7s Chris! Enjoy the 'Wodka' post tourney!