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A young North Wales Exiles side emerged victorious at the Open competitions at the Manchester Sevens. 

The team, making a return to the sevens circuit after a 14 year hiatus, beat the renowned Mels Exiles at with the last kick of the game, 29-31.

The Exiles have enjoyed a fruitful season romping to the Llangoed Sevens title and were gallant runners-up to Sale Sharks in the Caldy Sevens final.

Mels had established a 29-14 lead in the final with tries to Danny Levison (2), Tom Bury, Gavin Gray, and Lewis Williams.

But despite many of the squad still in their teens, the Exiles showed maturity in refusing to panic. Dan Bibby and captain James Farrell pulled the Exiles within touching distance.

It was left to Fylde’s Tommy Banks to complete the turnaround scoring at the death to make it 29 apiece with the added conversion giving exiles a dramatic win.

In the quarter-finals, the Exiles outplayed a Lancashire side boasting several members of the Sale team before totally outclassing pre-tournament favourites Susies Sevens in the last four of the competition.

Kamikaze, the RugbyRocks winners, as expected reached the latter stages beating Ronin Warriors (17-15) in the quarters before just losing out to Mels 26-21 in the other semi-finals.

The HFW Wailers Academy outlasted The Outlaws in an end-to-end Plate Final winning 33-26.

Nigeria representatives, the Black Stallions, had an impressive win against the Carmarthen Warriors in the group stages but ran out of steam in the quarter-finals, losing to Susies 21-12.

Manchester Sevens Open

10.20 A HFW Wailers Academy 5 North Wales Exiles 33
10.40 B Mels Exiles 24 Lancashire 14
11.00 C Susies Sevens 26 The Outlaws 17
11.20 D Kamikaze 36 Black Stallions 19
11.40 A HFW Wailers Academy 19 CTTS Titans 31
12.00 B Mels Exiles 24 Venezuela 5
12.20 C Susies Sevens 24 Ronin Warriors 0
12.40 D Kamikaze 24 Carmarthen Warriors 17
13.00 A North Wales Exiles 24 CTTS Titans 19
13.20 B Lancashire 38 Venezuela 5
13.40 C The Outlaws 5 Ronin Warriors 7
14.00 D Black Stallions 29 Carmarthen Warriors 12

14.40 Cup QF #1 Winner A: North Wales Exiles 19 Runner Up B: Lancashire 7
15.00 Cup QF #2 Winner C: Susies Sevens 21 Runner Up D: Black Stallions 12
15.20 Cup QF #3 Winner B: Mels Exiles 29 Runner Up A: CTTS Titans 28
15.40 Cup QF #4 Winner D: Kamikaze 17 Runner Up C: Ronin Warriors 15
16.00 Plate SF #1 3rd A: HFW Wailers 31 3rd B: Venezuela 10
16.20 Plate SF #2 3rd C: The Outlaws 31 3rd D: Carmarthen Warriors 14
16.40 Cup SF #1 Cup QF #1: North Wales Exiles 36 Cup QF #2: Susies Sevens 14
17.00 Cup SF #2 Cup QF #3: Mels Exiles 26 Cup QF #4: Kamikaze 21

17.40 Plate Final Plate SF #1: HFW Wailers 33 Plate SF #2: The Outlaws 26
18.00 Cup Final Cup SF #1: North Wales Exiles 31 Cup SF #2: Mels Exiles 29