Monday 31 May 2010

Olafs Axes came up short of their own high expectations at the Bournemouth 7s. The Saturday group games went well and saw us qualify for the main cup on the Sunday. In the quarterfinals we played the well known Harpenden Praetorians where we pl...

Sunday 04 April 2010

Olafs Axes started the 7s season off with a bang by winning the Graham Robinson Memorial 7s at Old Emmanuel RFC on Saturday. We won the group comfortably beating Old Hamptonians 31-0, Well Oiled Beef Hooked 36-5 and finally The Phantoms 36-0. ...

Tuesday 30 March 2010

After what feels like a very long winter of organising and trying to get everything in place for the 2010 season we finally have our squad in place (more or less), sponsors sorted and a list of tournaments to play in. We'll be kicking the season o...

Tuesday 04 August 2009

All,

Due to injuries and a number of players being well into their 15's pre-season training we won't be entering more tournaments for this year. I'd like to thank all those players who have played for us in what is only our 2nd season as a 7s team.

I'd especially like to thank our sponsors Beta and Bromley Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic and Debbie Munton for her donation. Without their financial support we would not have been able to achieve what we did this season.

Below is a summary of our tournaments this season.

Sunshine 7s - 26th April - Plate Winners

This was our first visit to one of the oldest 7s tournaments on the circuit. Despite loosing our first game to the impressive Apache we then went unbeaten for the rest of the tournament winning every game comfortably to win the plate. http://ur7s.com/news/212/jedi_prove_too_strong_a_force_at_sunshine_sevens

Canterbury 7s - 3rd May - Cup Finalists

Despite only have an 8 man squad we went all the way to the final and were leading at half time against Kamikaze. Sadly we were down to 6 men by this point and lost to Kamikaze in an exciting final. It was also great to have our sponsor Bromley Physiotherapy come watch us and we hope Oscar was pleased with his medal.
http://ur7s.com/news/222/weekend_review_blues_beat_off_tough_competition_at_north_walsham_millfield_old_boys_too_good_at_middlesex

Church 7s - 9th May - Cup Quarter Finalists

This was a fantastic tournament where we didn't reach our full potential. We won all 4 games in a group including beating the eventual finalists. We had been tipped as one of the teams to beat by UR7s but sadly came unstuck in the quarter final against RAM Stallions.
http://ur7s.com/news/225/church_charity_sports_day_becoming_holy_grail_for_best_of_uk_7s

Bournemouth 7s - 23rd-24th May - Cup Quarter Finalists

This was our first time at what is now the largest 7s tournament in Europe and was also our first ever 2 day tournament. On day 1 we went through the group unbeaten and were through to the quarter finals. We then played the eventual winners Oakmedians and were only 1 score down with less than a minute to go. Sadly we picked up 2 serious injuries in this tournament cutting our squad down by 2 players for the rest of the season.

Bath 7s Invitational - 27th June - Plate Semi Finals

This was our first time playing at invitational level and we played some of the best teams in the country. We won 2 of our 3 games in the group which I think surprised a lot of people and really showed the level we are now capable of playing at. We beat Stash Sharks and Elite I.D. who are the flag ship team of UR7s.com, and really got us noticed. Infact they voted Richs tackle in that game as their tackle of the season
http://ur7s.com/teams/olorunid/blog

Slough 7s - 5th July - Cup Finalists

Another tournament where we didn't have a full 12 man squad which proved our undoing. We won our group comfortably and then also cruised to the final winning our semi final by 40 points. In the finals we played Ram Stallions who were actually a combined team of Scorpians and Kamikaze 2 of the biggest teams on the invitational scene. We ended up narrowly loosing by 8 points.
http://ur7s.com/news/306/ram_stallions_enjoy_further_success_at_slough_sevens

Newquay Open - 18th July - Cup Quarter Finalists

Our 2nd tournament away was down in Newquay and once again we had been tipped as a team to watch by UR7s.com. We again won our group, then next up beat our old rivals Kamikaze before loosing to eventual finalists and the previous years winners Ronin Impact who are a long established 7s team.
http://ur7s.com/news/329/family_affair_comes_good_for_newquay_surf_sevens

Lightwater 7s - 25th July - Cup Finalists

This was our last tournament of the season and due to injuries we again only had 9 players. Although in a tough group we won all games comfortably and then won a tough semi final. In the final we agonisingly lost by 5 points as the lack of players told.


All in all, in what is only our 2nd season we have had a great season. We have made the step up to playing at invitational tournaments and have become a very well known team on the 7s circuit.
Next season should be even more successful. Our main downfall this year was a lack of players, and all 3 finals we lost we would have certainly won if we'd had a full squad. This season we have had a lot of players step in who weren't part of the squad at the start of the season such as, Graham Purdy, Ian Hardy, James Greenaway, Nikki Daniel, Mark Whyman, James Clarke, Rich, John Bradshaw, Jamie Archer and Al Knucky and they did a great job. Hopefully most of these players will become part of the squad for next season along with the current squad and make a 20 man squad which should mean we are no longer going along to tournaments with less than 12 players.

Olafs Axes
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Monday 27 April 2009

Sunshine 7s 2009
This was our first time visiting the prestigious Sunshine 7s. Unlike most 7s tournaments this was a straight knock out. Winning your first game would put you into the cup, loosing it would put you in the plate. After that if you lost you were out, so you were only guaranteed 2 games.
Out first game was to be against Apaches, a well established invitational team.
First Round Game vs Apaches 7-31 Loss
The first game was always going to be tough, especially as this would be our opening game of the season. We conceded early on, but were then shortly level when Unseld went round the outside of his man to score under the posts. From here onwards though we looked rusty. We didn't do anything majorly wrong, but neither did we do anything majorly right. There was a sequence of dropped balls and turn overs that allowed Apaches to pull away and run out comfortable winners.
Second Round Game Plate vs Fat Boys 71-0 Win
We had to wait about 3 hours for our next game as there seemed to be a few problems with the schedule of games. When we did eventually get on the pitch it was obvious there would be only 1 result. We ran in an easy 11 tried from Adam Daniel 3, Smithy 2, Unseld 2, Purdy, James Catlin, Nikki and Paul Archer.
Quarter Final Game Plate vs Tonbridge Judds 28-14 Win
Tonbridge Juddians 15s side have had a 100% season scoring over 1,000 points on their way to winning London SE 4. Knowing this we knew this would be a tough game. It proved to be tough, though we never looked likely to loose. The defense was very impressive and we were calm with the ball in hand. By half time we were 21-7 up and in control. We scored 1st in the 2nd half giving us a comfortable 21 point lead. At this point Juddians seemed to loose the plot, and their players seemed more interest in tryin to smash into us whether they were attacking or defending and totally lost any 7s skills they had previously shown. The final score was 28-14 and we were into the quarter finals. (Scorers Adam Daniel, Purdy, Nikki, Unseld)
Semi Final Plate vs Kamikaze 31-10 Win
Our semi finals was against our friendly rivals Kamikaze. Having played them twice last year and beating them twice were knew they'd want revenge, but not as much as we wanted to keep our 100% record. We were 3 scores up by half time and Kamikaze looked a little shocked to be honest. We kept the pressure up in the 2nd half scoring first. They then got 1 back before Unseld scored his 2nd of the game to give us a 31-5 lead. The game was over by this point and we took our foot off the pedal slightly allowing them to score once more to make the final score 31-10. We were in the finals and feeling confident.
Plate Final vs Sevenoaks 38-7 Win
The finals was to be against Sevenoaks of London 2 who beaten the host team East Grinstead in the semis. Running out between the cheerleaders to start the final was certainly a new one on us. From the kick off we were in total control of the game playing our best 7s yet.  We were 19-0 up by half time, and went into a 38-0 lead before easing up slightly allowing Sevenoaks to get a deserved try to end the game. view the rest of the post »