PORTWAY Pirates Sevens, Birmingham and Solihull RFC’s newly-formed 7’s team, made a successful first outing at Leicester Forest last weekend.
The Pirates were drawn against Anstey RFC, Leicester Forest RFC and Burbage RFC as a squad of 12 travelled to the East Midlands for the day-long tournament that featured 7’s teams from across the UK.
Pirates made a strong start with an impressive 34-12 win against a physical Anstey side as they kept the ball well before exploiting the space out wide.
However, Pirates were narrowly beaten 24-16 by hosts Leicester Forest in their next outing.
That set up a winner takes all clash with Burbage, with the victors advancing to the semi-finals, as Pirates used their superior speed and fitness and claim a convincing 32-5 win to progress to the knockout stage.
The squad was reduced to 10 players for the last four clash after picking up a couple of injuries and, despite producing a solid performance, Pirates suffered a 24-10 defeat to Looney Toons from Newcastle.
Pirates coach Ian Edwards said: “It’s been a great start to the 7’s season for us , it’s a totally different style of rugby to the 15 a-side game.
“Fitness and support play is key and my young team worked really hard today and we are back in action in two weeks at Redditch X7’s tournament.
“I set up the 7’s squad to give our young players a taste of a different style and pace of rugby, all of the lads on the pitch were under the age of 23 which is a fantastic achievement and bodes well for the club.”
