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"The 2004 mid-summer sevens will soon be a distant memory, but do not fear for the 2005 event is provisionally pencilled in for the weekend of 17-19 June 2005. More information and invitations will be sent out at the beginning of next year, but in the meantime you can re-live the 2004 event by browsing both below and in our guestbook. The format for 2005 is likely to be similar to 2004 so you can get an idea of what to expect by clicking here. ."

Sevens Report & Photos
Some photos of the weekends events here - courtesy of Mr. Tait

Montrose have a reports and some piccies also here

Work commitments and injuries from the previous evening's XVs game meant Pipeline Inspection Project and Perthshire Oldies would not be taking part in Shetland's biggest ever mid-summer sevens tournament. However, the late addition of footballers from Lerwick Spurs, meant that 13 teams battled it out for the P&O Trophy last Saturday at Clickimin.
Hardly any of the young Spurs team had any rugby experience prior to the tournament so it was no surprise when Greenock Wanderers eased past them by 42-0 in the opening game of the afternoon. The national league division one side cruised through all of their group games only conceding seven points in the process. Montrose claimed second spot ahead of Spurs, whose improvement was evidenced in a hard fought victory over the Sullom Voe Terminators.
Perthshire won group B comfortably as they swept aside the Shetland Colts and Moray with relative ease. The Colts grabbed the runners-up spot with victory over annual visitors Moray. Shetland will of course be seeing more of the Moray boys as they will be opponents in the forthcoming national league campaign.
The absence of Perthshire Oldies meant that Aberdeen Wanderers B were moved into Group C, but they could do little to prevent a rampant Shetland side win the group without loss of any points. Wanderers beat IIC Raiders in one of the closest games of the afternoon to guarantee their participation in the plate competition.
Aberdeen Wanderers A won the final group with wins against Orkney and the Shetland Barbarians. Orkney squeezed past the Babas to take second spot.
Upon completion of the group stages, the next match up was a play off to see who would take the last spot in the shield knock out stages. The Sullom Voe Terminators came out victorious and consigned previous tournament winners Moray to the wooden spoon.
The Terminators avenged their earlier defeat to Spurs by squeezing them out 12-10 to reach the final of the Shield. They couldn't keep the momentum going in the final though as they lost 10-0 to a Shetland Barbarians side who had beaten IIC Raiders 24-7 in the other semi-final.
Shetland Colts were little match for Montrose in the first semi-final of the plate competition. Although they lost by 31 points to 5 the experience will undoubtedly bode well for them in the future. Orkney beat Aberdeen Wanderers B 26-17 only to lose 33-7 to Montrose in the final.
The first semi-final to decide who would go into the final of the P&O Trophy was between Greenock Wanderers and Perthshire with the west coast men running out comfortable winners 47-0. Wanderer's very own springbok Keith Differenthal was once again on fire. Over the duration of the tournament he crossed the try line on no fewer than 14 times to earn the award for top scorer of the tournament.
Shetland was up against Aberdeen Wanderers A in the other semi-final. With Shetland being current holders and Wanderers having been previous winners a close game was on the cards. Sadly for the local interest it was the visitors who squeezed into the final by 25 points to 10.
The final itself was closer than the score line suggested. Aberdeen Wanderers did well to keep their Greenock opponents at bay and it was only in the last few minutes of the game that they finally gave in to the pace and trickery of Differenthal. The final ended 28-7 in favour of Greenock.
With the tournament now ended the players retired to the Clickimin Centre for an excellent meal. The presentation of awards was taken care of by BP operations team leader Marc Owen:

P&O Trophy Winners: Greenock Wanderers
Plate Winners: Montrose
Shield Winners: Shetland Barbarians
Wooden Spoon: Moray
Top Scorer: Keith Differenthal (Greenock Wanderers)
Local Player of the Tournament: Lindsay Leslie (Shetland)

Club President Forbes Hogg took the opportunity to thank the main sponsors BP and their partners in the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal as well as other contributors to the success of the tournament: Northlink, Shetland Office Supplies, Lerwick Building Centre, Shetland Fudge, Shetland Line, Pat Brogan, Budweiser, Voe Show Committee, Lerwick British Legion, Inspectahire, John Leask & Son and Shetland Seafish Limited.


Shetland Juniors enjoy their version of Rugby Sevens
Shetland Rugby Club’s junior section held their portion of the Mid-Summer Sevens on Sunday, watched by the seniors, ladies and the visiting teams.
The Under 14 competition had four teams competing;, North Zetland (I and II), Shetland Rams and Shetland Stallions. After a Round Robin competition the final was contested by North Zetland I and the Stallions. The game was very tense with Ben Crainie giving the North Zetland team the lead early in the second half. Joe O'connor equalised for the Stallions but it was North Zetland who took the spoils with the winning try. Ben Crainie received the Shield from President Forbes Hogg to a great ovation from young and old alike.
The Under 16 competition saw two AHS teams compete over an elongated version of the sevens with AHS I winning the Murray Anderson Memorial Trophy.
A great tournament with some excellent play by all the youngsters. A club spokesman said “the experience gained recently playing Orkney and in other games is definitely beginning to show with structure and understanding appearing in the play”.


Ladies Intercounty

Sexy Rugby from Shetland Ladies.
On Sunday a Shetland Ladies Rugby team took on an Orkney womens team. Shetland fielded an inexperienced team with Orkney having played Highland recently were probabaly the favorites, with the first half of the game being played under seven a side rules and the second half under ten a side rules. Shetland were hopeful with extra space this could give their athletic players an advantage.
Shetland kicked the game off and after a move from the orkney backs, the ball was knocked on Emily Tait picked up the loose ball and Orkney showed their commitment by producing a terrific tackle to put Shetland 5 yards back. This actually seemed to make shetland more determined and although they surrendered possession they continued to make text book tackles, low and wrapping up the legs, this stopped Orkney from gaining any momentum. After a spell of Orkney possession another excellent tackle from Shetland resulted in a turnover, the ball was spun wide and although Orkney had cover wide the ball was passed inside to the supporting Karen McKelvie who ran in from half way to score. Karen Kicked the conversion.
Within the next 10 mins Shetland scored another 3 tries in similar style, Orkney possession, Excellent Shetland Defense producing turnover and Shetland keeping ball alive for the support player to score. Linda Irvine Scoring First followed by Kerry Hooker and Emily Tait.

First quarter over and Shetland were 22 - 0

Into the second quarter and it was more of the same Shetland defending brilliantly to stop Orkney behind the gain line and pressurise the half back. Shetland scored another four tries in this period from Emma Anderson, Karin Olivier, Kerry Hooker and Lesley Mouat.

Score at Half time 42-0 in Shetlands Favour Perthshire Rugby Club supplied the entertainment with two streakers showing off how cold Shetlands weather is in Mid Summer.

The Ten a side started and it was obvious that Shetlands advantage in the loose would be offset by Orkneys ability at set pieces and at the breakdown. Shetland defence and support again was first class. Although Orkney produced some good phases of play they never quite produced the final pass that would end in a try, whereas Shetland started playing better rugby keeping the ball alive in contact and passing to the supporting player. In this spell Shetland scored two tries from Karen McKelvie and Linda Irvine.

Third Quarter Over and Shetland now 52 - 0 ahead.

The Fourth Quarter started and Orkney were improving as the game went on and putting more phases together, but time and again Shetlands Defence just proved too much, Orkneys defence was getting tighter now as well but in this spell Shetland scored their two best tries. The first an Individual effort came from a turnover at the breakdown and the ball was shipped wide excellent handling from Heather Miller released front row collegue Deborah Jamieson, Deborah showed excellent footwork to sidestep two Orkney Defenders handoff a third and run in from halfway to the delight of the crowd. The second try was a good team try as after a move wide Roberta Wilson was held by a tackler and with Orkneys cover defence in front of her Roberta showed presence of mind to turn for Sian Thompson to take the ball from depth at pace to cut the orkney line from a great angle.

Final Score Shetland 62 Orkney 0.

Coach Wayne Leslie said "A excellent performance from every player in the team, Orkney were unlucky not to score and I have no doubt that if it were a Fifteen a side game the scoreline would have been a lot different".

Womens training continues Sunday evenings from six o'clock, any new player interested is encoraged to come along. The team is aiming to secure an away fixture in the new year.


Perthshire XV vs Shetland Development.

Friday night saw a Shetland development team take on a Perthshire XV, Perthshire seemed a formidable outfit winning National Division 3 and BT Cellnet Bowl and being voted SRU National League team of the season.
Shetland kicked off and Perthshire soon put their game plan into action, this involved large ball carriers running off the stand off. This put a lot of pressure on shetland defensivly as perthshire had the physical advantage, but Shetland, led from the front superbly by Neil Hamilton, held together until deep in the first half when after a series of phases close to the line the Perthshire No 8 ploughed over.
Shetland then put together their best spell of the match and after a good mike skinner break from the base of the scrum quick second phase ball was moved wide, good handling from the backs saw John Robert Eunson stopped 10m from the line excellent rucking and support play saw the ball recycled and Laurence Williamson beat the tackler to score a superb team try. The conversion was missed.
This seemed to spur Perthshire and they upped a gear to score a carbon copy of their first try.
With time running out in the first half perthshire scored another try to make the half time score 19-5 to Perthshire.
Going into the second half the first score was going to be vitally important, after another spell of pressure quick ball was moved to the outside centre who ploughed over.
With time running out and Shetland tiring after a hard shift defensivly Perthshire scored twice more to give a final score of 37-5.
Reflecting on the Game Shetland coach Wayne Leslie identified young second row Pairing of Matthew Nicholson and Alistair McLeod and Wingers John Pulley and Nathan Coote for praise, but felt that fitness and work at breakdown were areas to be worked on at training.
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Press Release - 11 May 2004

Shetland Rugby announce mid-summer sevens sponsorship deal
Following on from the recent presentation of the North District League trophy, there was more good news for Shetland Rugby Club when BP and the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal agreed to be main sponsors for this year's Shetland Mid-Summer Sevens Rugby Tournament.

Shetland Rugby Sevens Co-ordinator Martin Watt said: "Our success in the North District competition coupled with next season's elevation into the national rugby leagues is certainly going to increase our exposure in rugby circles. We are delighted that BP and their partners in the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal have recognised our success and have agreed to assist with the costs of staging this year's event."

Committee member Wayne Leslie added "The financial boost will ensure that this year's sevens will be the biggest ever staged in Shetland. Indeed with upwards of 150 visiting players and officials expected, this year's tournament is set to be one of the biggest sporting events staged in Shetland this year".

Robert Watt, Sullom Voe Terminal Site Manager, of BP, said we are delighted to be sponsoring this event particularly in the light of Shetland Rugby Club's success of being promoted from the North District into the National Rugby Leagues and as a means of encouraging the growth of Rugby as a sport within Shetland. I look forward to a great weekend's rugby.

Visiting teams this year are expected to be of a very high calibre, which means the Shetland Select team will have its work cut out to retain the P&O Cup. National league opposition will come from Greenock Wanderers (Division 1), Perthshire (Division 2, BT Shield Winners) and inter-county rivals Orkney (Division 4). They will hopefully be joined by Bergen, who are the reigning Norwegian national champions. Previous winners Aberdeen Wanderers and Moray are making return visits and along with teams from Montrose, Kinross, Banff, Uist, Edinburgh University and Westray, the competition facing the locals is bound to be very stiff.

The tournament is scheduled to take place over the weekend of 18-20 June and will commence on the Friday evening with a full game between Perthshire and Shetland. Saturday will see the sevens competitions, while Sunday will give the visitors a chance to shake off the previous evening's hospitality by participating in the survivor's games. There will also be junior and ladies rugby held on the Sunday. The usual beer tent and BBQ will be open throughout and official dinners will be held on both the Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets will shortly be on sale for the traditional Sevens Disco to be held on the Saturday night. More information is available at www.shetlandrugby.com

Quotes from previous Sevens
Just think, at the age of two, I used to have ribs; He's got to learn; We must have bananas; Just the donkey's knob; Bleghhhhhh!!; That's bloody stupid if you ask me; These aren't my bloody trousers; Oy! Thats my hat!; BP?; The braised steak was off; The washing machine is broken; Eh upp! No. 8 pick up; All I ever do is fall asleep; Urmm... we seem to have lost the cup; Is yir pal fae England?; All that fanny and I end up sleeping with Matt; It's like the bar off Star Wars; We kicked off...,they caught it...,and scored...,that was it; Take it down and start again; Mi bags are stinking!,...good session tonight; And then the sun went out; Just step into the coal bunker, while I get rid of him; Come here, you little bast**d!; Ten tubes of KY jelly please; The cheque is in the post; It's great...you don't have to think the whole weekend.



Last years Sevens report - SHETLAND SELECT IN MID-SUMMER SEVENS HEAVEN

Last weekend saw the Rugby Club host the Invitational Sevens, with six teams up from the Mainland, the competition was going to be intense for the P&O Trophy.
Once all the group games had been played the draw was as expected with Aberdeen Wanderers playing Moray in the first semi final and Shetland Select Playing Shetland Barbarians in the second.
The Plate final Aberdeen Wanderers A were paired against the Shetland Rams.
The 125th Anniversary Shield saw Sullom Voe Terminators play Glasgow TW Tourists and Uist Nomads were paired with IIC Raiders in the spoon.
The semi final between Aberdeen Wanderers and Moray saw a slick Aberdeen team beat a committed Moray side with some ease.
The second semi saw the Shetland Select play within themselves to win quite comfortable, however it was a good afternoon for the Barbarians who had given the Shetland Rams a lesson in sevens rugby earlier in the tournament. Caleb Ewan and Eddie Nicol served them best.
The spoon final the far travelled Uist Nomads, who had left Uist early on Friday Morning to make the tournament, dominated a tiring IIC Raiders team who defended their wooden spoon.
The 125th Anniversary Shield saw Glasgow TW beat Sullom Voe with Graham Eadie making the difference for Glasgow. Kirk Wright and Mike Killeen stood out for SVT.
The Shetland Tourist Board Plate final Aberdeen Wanderers A beat the Shetland Rams who never got their horny heads around the abbreviated game, although young Sean McKenzie played very well.
The final was going to be a mixture of styles with Shetland looking to exploit their pace out wide and play a direct game while Wanderers looking to keep the ball alive in contact and utilise their support runners.
The final kicked off and Shetland moved the ball right to left leaving Birthday Boy Robert McBain one on one with his marker, he stood his man up and ran outside him for the perfect start. 7-0. Shetland continued to control the game, moving the ball well, and committed defence stopping any quality of possession to Aberdeen. Mike Skinner, Scott Hatrick and Lindsay Leslie putting in a lot of work closing down the ball. It was after a trademark heavy hit from Leslie that the ball bounced to Paddy O'Connor at halfway, who opened his legs and showed his class to score 14 - 0.
The Second Half was the same story with Shetland dominating things after a series of phases Scott Hatrick brushed off the tackler to power through. From a scrum close to the line Skinner scurried over to finish the tie. Wanderers did score late on through Dave Matthews although it was too late by this time. A very good team effort from the Shetland Select who played good sevens rugby all day, young Dhanni Moar unstoppable given any space.
Aberdeen did have some consolation with Matthews picking up Tournament Top Scorer with Dhanni Moar Player of the Tournament.
A club spokesman thanked Northlink for subsidising travel costs and Cee & Jays, Valhalla Brewery, Stewarts Rum & David McBain for sponsoring the prizes.