Monday 16 August 2010

ULR Samurai International turned the tables on London Irish at Middlesex 7s on Saturday. In a repeat of last year's final, Samurai got their revenge against the Premiership outfit finally coming out on top 15-12 in a breathtaking contest.

The prestigious competition's unusual structure means that to win, a team must progress unbeaten throughout the tournament. This provides a huge challenge to the invitational teams such as Samurai as they look to bond and gel as quickly as possible, often having only two or three days to prepare as a squad.

Samurai shot out of the blocks in their first game against invitational arch-rivals The White Hart Marauders. After a disappointing semi-final loss in the final leg of the UK National Series at Newquay, the Samurai were keen for revenge and put in a brutal display that squeezed the life out of the Marauder's attack. Marius Schoeman, Ryno Benjamin, Zar Lawrence and Humphrey Kayange were among the scorers in an impressive display.

The quarter-final stage saw Samurai face the 14-time winners Harlequins with a star-studded line-up including Danny Care, Chris Robshaw and Nick Easter. In a hotly contested contest Harlequins looked to have the upper hand for most of the match but dogged determination from the Samurai kept them in the game and they came from behind to win 17-12 after Quins went down to 6 men following a late hit by Danny Care. With some typical British summer rain making for greasy conditions, this was a real test for the Samurai but their win set up a semi-final with their National Series rivals, the British Army.

Following a summer of intense rivalry in the National Series, where the two sides were only separated by points difference, there is certainly no love lost between the British Army and Samurai. After some epic clashes over the summer, this was billed to be one of the games of the tournament. Samurai, however, had other ideas.
Another devastating defensive display saw Samurai nil The Army – no mean feat against one of the most potent attacking forces on the circuit.
After some clinical finishing brought around by tenacious defence, Samurai ended the game as victors 29-0, setting up a repeat against last year's winners, the ever impressive London Irish.

The final proved to be an absolute thriller with the difficult conditions making for a low-scoring war of attrition. Schoeman got Samurai off to a great start after a sustained period of possession led to the South African legend bundling over in the corner for an unconverted score.
The Londoners responded well with a 5-pointer of their own before delivering a hammer-blow before half time with a converted try on the whistle to bring the half time score to 12-5. The Samurai would have to come from behind for the second time that day if they wanted to claim the Middlesex trophy.
From the kick-off Samurai retained possession superbly and recycled through a number of phases to carve an opening for for Humphrey Kayange who off-loaded well to the supporting Paul Delport who scampered in for the score. The conversion was missed so Samurai remained behind at 12-10.
Great work from the restart saw Samurai claim possession and send Kenyan international Collins Injera in to the corner for a quick-fire score, completely turning the tables giving Samurai a 15-12 lead.
With two minutes to go, London Irish looked to have blown their chance at the title by losing a player to the sin-bin for a high tackle. Despite this, the Premiership outfit rallied superbly to put huge pressure on the Samurai defence in an exhausting 3 minute passage of over-time play. It went right down to the wire with Delon Armitage chipping over the defence in the Samurai 22 to initiate a foot race to the ball, winner takes all. Samurai won the race and kicked the ball off the pitch, sparking joyous celebrations from the management and supporters as some of the players collapsed to the ground in exhaustion having given their all in the gruelling 20-minute final.

The ULR Samurai International team at Middlesex 7s really showed the value of playing for each other. On paper the team was world-class but throughout the day they had to rally together to work as a unit to overcome some excellent teams. A brutal and relentless defence was the cornerstone of the team's win which allowed their class to shine through in attack.