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Tommi Hughes of Elite ID and Samurai International has been lucky enough to get himself a summer in the USA playing for National Championship contenders NOVA from Washington. UR7s have helped two up-and-coming 7s players from the UK find teams to play for in America this summer (the other being Hamish Smales of the Kooga Wailers) and both will be keeping the UR7s community up to date with what they get up to, who they meet, the landscape of 7s in America, and finally how NOVA get on throughout the summer as they build up another assault for National glory.

What a rollercoaster past month over here for the team, myself and the weather! I was diagnosed with having a probable torn meniscus and majorly strained PCL (Post Cruciate Ligament) injury which stopped me training and playing, which killed me.

Then the lead up to the MARFU Championships saw us play with full squads, depleted squads, injured squads everything you can pretty imagine.

The two tournaments leading up to MARFU were the Norfolk 7s and Rocky Gorge 7s. Both were qualifiers for MARFU so equally as important as we needed to get the number 1 seeding.

Norfolk 7s was a dimmer look into 7s in the US with teams dropping out last minute, poor pitches and a general bad atmosphere.

There were only 3 teams in the Premier Division so first off we had to play both those teams twice as a kind of group stage. Then once we had beaten both those teams we would then play the winner of those two teams in the final. Luckily for us we got a break where a team from the social division wanted to step up to our league to make it a little more interesting, sadly after a 40 point beating by our boys they dropped straight back into the social bracket!

The other two teams in the Premier where Washington and Charlotte, we had beaten everything on the day and had to face Charlotte in the final for the 2nd time of the day and again the boys did the job comfortably beating them. Although it had been a pretty small event it was still a really good result for NOVA with 9 MARFU points and a win!

The week after saw us go the short 45 minute journey to Rocky Gorge 7s. This was the last tournament before MARFU Championships and every side was there looking to get that good seeding.

We were without PJ Komongnan as he was selected for the US national team at the World Games. I was still out ‘rehabbing’ my knee, whilst Scottie was pulling along with many injuries (but he is getting old and the years have been tough on him!). Furthermore both our boys from Texas had bought injuries along with them, so it was looking like being another long tough day for the NOVA boys.

In our group were Charlotte, Pittsburgh and Wilmington. Group stages were pretty easy again, just going through the motions but playing some good rugby on somewhat shabby pitches.

So into the Semi-Finals the boys went, facing old foe PAC who have built a bit of a reputation as a hard hitting ‘in your face’ side. The boys played well and did not get side tracked by PAC's off the ball play and easily progressed into the final where Schuylkill River were waiting.

Amusingly Schuylkill River didn’t have a different kit with the strips clashing so they were given NOVA blacks jerseys whilst we wore our white ones making it feel like an all Nova final!

The boys had actually contemplated forfeiting as we only had 7 fit players and no subs! But the boys dug deep and overcame a strong team effort for in the final from Schuylkill. So it was NOVA off to the vital MARFU as number one seed and all the boys paid a deserved visit to the bar to celebrate.

In the week leading up to MARFU all the injured parties were busy in rehab getting themselves ready for the challenge that lay ahead, with only two teams in the final progressing to the Nationals.

More pressure lay in the fact that we didn’t want to be second seeds as again it would give us a tougher group for San Fran.

Thankfully for me I was feeling a lot fitter and although not 100% felt I could get through the weekend. PJ was still away but the other injured guys in the team were feeling strong.

First up was Maryland Exiles, who similar to PAC are known for their aggression, perhaps rather than their 7s flair.
Again NOVA played well and we took the ball game. Although I was blowing out of my you know where, sitting down icing your knee for month and half doesn’t do anything for fitness but wonders for guitar hero!!

Wilmington, a side who have great potential but perhaps let down by a couple of hot heads, were next, and we ground them down to take the ‘W’ again . We played solid defense and our attack was clinical.

In amongst some sensational sunshine (makes a change to the horrid rain back home in the UK) we next had to face PAC again. This time we stepped it up a gear physically using our big boys to suck in men with the rest of us working off them.

Our defense was solid again and that is a key area in taking down teams here and at Nationals. Yet again our offense proved too much and again we pushed them aside for our final pool game against good old Washington.
A less physical affair but more speedy, we took the game to them playing pressurised defence to force the turnover then playing the precise attacking game that is second nature to us.

We beat them convincingly in the end but credit to the Washington boys though who have come on leaps and bounds throughout the summer.

So another weekend and another final against Schuylkill River. Or so we thought! With them picking up 4 injuries throughout the day and only 6 eligible players left, and with their captain and team manager seeing how we were playing, they decided to forfeit the final.

So there we go MARFU champions and Number 1 Seed into Nationals! I was absolutely knackered but it felt good to be back on the field with the boys and winning.

With 3 weeks till nationals it’s time to step it up, time for sprints, sprints and more sprints....

Tommi