Tournament Report: DRF Sevens Series #2
BIRFC Women continued their strong start to the season with another 2nd place finish in beautiful conditions in Wilmersdorf
With only five teams present, the tournament was formatted as a single round-robin, meaning every team would play each other once to create the final table. Irish again had the honour of kicking off the first game, this time against hosts BSV92. Defence was the order of the day, and neither team seemed to be able to settle into an effective attacking system. Nonetheless, Berlin Irish were able to capitalize on strong work at the breakdown and speedy counter-attacks to pull away to a 10–0 lead at half-time through tries from Leo and Sekulovic. The second half remained scrappy and, despite two yellow cards for the hosts, Irish were unable to build their lead further. Instead, the Wilmersdorfer were able to cross the line in the corner with their final action but, with time up, Irish took the win 10–5
Next up were Berliner SC from the leafy suburbs of Grunewald. Here the team managed to get into a good attack rhythm and pull the defence apart multiple times. Playmaker Hirschberg twice cut straight through gaps opened by the phase play and, as the opposition tightened their midfield, Captain Thron (filling in on the wing) and debutant Dankou were able to exploit the space out wide. Into the second half, fitness and squad size told, and two further tries from Ziffels and Andraka padded the score out to a 34–0 victory over a brave BSC outfit, who had already improved markedly since the last meeting 3 weeks prior.
The 3rd match of the day saw reigning divisional champions RK03 as the next opponents for the green machine. A tight but thrilling encounter was the result, with both teams working hard in defence to deny the opposition. Murtagh was twice the hero with scramble try-saving tackles, forcing turnovers. The Weißensee outfit got the better of the first half though, their two tries being matched only by a lovely midfield strike move from Hirschberg and Andraka, to set Leo away to score in the corner. The second half was, if anything, tighter—yet again the weight of possession for RK inevitably stretched the defence, and the black-and-gold snuck over twice more to stretch their lead. The last two minutes were however dominated by Irish, with Weber and Marchand combining to open the defensive line, then Dankou trotted over unopposed to score a consolation try with the last action to end the game 10–24 to RK.
Just 20 minutes later and with heavy legs, BIRFC came into their final game of the day against a physical (and aptly-named) Berlin Bruisers team. In spite of—or perhaps due to—the fatigue, the team settled into a conservative game possession based game plan. Whilst the bruisers were able to dominate the midfield contact areas, Berlin Irish began moving the ball well and creating numerous opportunities in the wider areas of the pitch. Hirschberg and Leo both took braces to add to their totals, with Fischer—normally a 15s specialist—setting up two with strong inside line running. In the second half, some lapses of concentration cost the team the chance for more points, but both Dankou and Murtagh crossed to take the score to 40–0 and finish the day with a solid win.
Squad
Ziffels
Andraka
Leo
Thron (c)
Sekulovic
Murtagh
Hirschberg
Weber
Dankou
Fischer
Marchand
Player of the Day: Saba Sekulovic