Berlin Brandenburg 7's Series Tournament Nr. 4 @ Jungfernheide

Preparation

With poor weather cutting training possibilities short and injuries to a number of players, the Berlin Irish managed to bring together a total of 14 fit players into their 7s squad for 2018. 3 weeks of intensive sevens training were beginning to pay off, however, as the Lads' looked more fluent each session.

With only 12 spaces available, Gomez and James drew the short straw and were loaned to Fortuna Neuenkirchen, who arrived with only 5 players.

Group Stage

Irish 21–19 RC Velten

Despite initially falling behind to three easy Velten scores, the boys in green hit back just before halftime through a clever cross-field kick from Allan to set up Ewen for a clear sprint to the line.

The second half was all Irish, with McGee crossing after just 2 minutes after clever interplay with Paterson in the centre of the park. Next, Irish thought that they had equalised, but Allan’s pass to Paterson in the build up was judged to be a forward pass. Finally, with seconds remaining, Viehoff broke a tackle in the centre and beat all the chasing defenders to the line; Ewen kept his cool and slotted his 3rd conversion to give Irish their first victory.

Stahl Hennigsdorf 10–29 Irish

The game opened with Ewen scoring a quick brace, once showing a turn of speed to beat a defender, and the second to hammer through a despairing full back to go straight over the line. Hennigsdorf tried to respond, but the aggressive Irish defence limited their opportunities in the first half, as Allan powered over on the wing to give Irish a 19–0 lead at half-time.

The second half was a different story, with Hennigsdorf moving the ball quickly from wing to wing to stretch the Irish defence. Eventually after a quick tap from a 5-metre penalty Hennigsdorf found the line in the corner. Irish responded with strong carries in the centre leading to tries for Cox and Viehoff meaning a late Hennigsdorf score was merely a consolation.

Irish 0–19 RK03

The group leaders RK03 were a very different beast, specialised Sevens players moved the ball quickly along the line, making it difficult for the Irish blitz defence to function. Two quick tries put RK 14–0 up within the first minutes, but Irish held on until the break, with Opar chopped down agonisingly close to the line just before half-time.

The second half was more of the same, but Irish focused on the breakdown, repeatedly releasing pressure on themselves with good work at the rucks. A late RK try under the posts left them with a 0–19 victory.

Final Four

Potsdam 36–0 Irish & Irish 0–21 RK03

With legs tiring, the Irish were simply overpowered, first by eventual winners USV Potsdam in the Semi's then by RK03 in the 3rd Place match, leaving themselves a very respectable 4th Place in their first BB7s Series Tournament.

Well done Lads!