City and Guilds 7s German tour a success

This tour had it all; no sleep, local delicacies, someone getting lost, British weather – and some great rugby. Whilst this describes the tour to leave it at that would not do it justice. C&G RFC celebrated the end of the season with a 4-day tour to Berlin where they participated in the 2nd international Rugby Union Sevens.

Sevens captain Niall Watson did everything in his power to get his team to the airport on time – driving a minibus through midnight London picking up stragglers at the Union, Belushi’s Hammersmith and Belushi’s Fulham. Thanks to his dedication, the team caught their flight on time and enjoyed a little power nap before getting woken up gently by the pilot when he crashed down on Berlin Schonefeld airport. Tour translator Max Joachim awaited the tour party which quickly made its way through Berlin to their accommodation in Hohen Neuendorf, a little town just north of Berlin. The local rugby club Rugby Union Hohen Neuendorf had organized the 2nd international Rugby Union Sevens and did everything they could to make us feel at home – they even brought in some proper English weather – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. After a quick lunch, we took public transport again to meet our guide for a bicycle sightseeing tour through Berlin.

The weather was fantastic and the guide made sure that there were plenty of breaks on the way so that we didn’t exhaust ourselves before the Sevens the next day. Seeing the Reichstag, the Brandenburg gate and the Berlin wall was great but the biggest cheers were heard when the afternoon beer/kebab break was announced. Result of the afternoon: no casualties, Tom Cotton learnt how to ride a bike and Ed Jinks really does love kebabs.

12-7 and first place in pool B for the C&G RFC – what a result!

Tired and thirsty, we travelled back up north again to be greeted with a BBQ by our hosts. After a bit of socializing with our hosts we took over our “accommodation” – some luxurious tents on a beach rugby pitch next to the actual rugby pitch. The night brought the already mentioned English weather but luckily, the tents were able to keep us dry. Being engineers, we decided to make our upcoming nights more comfortable by buying some air mattresses before heading over to the club house for a fantastic breakfast – the secret to any success.

The weather didn’t improve much, and even the late arrival of our inspirational leader and captain Niall couldn’t brighten the skies: it kept raining and it felt like it was getting colder and colder throughout the day. That didn’t stop us from showing off our Sevens skills during the pool stage of the Rugby Union Sevens tournament. Our first opponent, the local Veltener Rugby Club, had no chance against some fierce defending and great running in attack so that an easy 31-0 win was recorded by tour secretary Toby Spittle.

Even more tries were scored against the U18s side of the hosts, the “RU Young Wolves”, and the Swiss team RC Bombers Zug. The toughest match of the day was the last one against defending champions RK 03 Berlin who just finished 7th in the German first division; the Bundesliga. Again, our defense was the corner stone of our success. Our two tries and one conversion was too much for the Berliners who only managed to score one try – 12-7 and first place in pool B for the C&G RFC – what a result!

The other pool was topped by the second RK 03 team followed by the hosts RU Hohen Neuendorf. That meant we were to face the hosts in the cup semifinal on the following day. A devious plan by the hosts meant that they organized a players’ party for Saturday night which we were quick to take advantage of. Our fancy dress for the evening, Ancient Greeks, was admired by the locals. The handover between current and future ICURFC club captain, started an ‘interesting’ evening that ended in the early hours on Sunday.

After another exceptional breakfast on Sunday, we discovered that we already made it to the final because both RK 03 teams did not make it back to the tournament on Sunday after having a beer or two too many. That meant we were to play the last match of the tournament against RU Hohen Neuendorf. Niall had problems finding enough players for the team after injuries and hangovers decimated our side. We employed one ringer in the form of one RK 03 player who joined us so that we went into the Cup final with some optimism.

The hosts showed us from the off that they wanted to win in front of their own fans. They quickly went two tries up before our own resident German, Max Joachim, brought us back into the game with a converted try just before half-time. Unfortunately, the beers from Saturday night were holding us back a bit so that we didn’t manage to score any more points. The second place was celebrated with the hosts nevertheless before heading into Berlin for one last night full of some nakedness, a lot of kebabs and a few beers before catching our flight home.

It was the end of a fantastic tour that had brought the team even more together and from which a number of memories and stories will be recounted. A lot of positive surprises were noted on the pitch by strong performances of freshers Will Griffiths and Sean Jordan who put in some fierce hits while winger Lukas Michalitsch was able to practice his try celebrations. The dedication shown by all the players and the willingness to mingle with the other teams and our hosts left the Germans very impressed by the C&G RFC and new C&G RFC club captain Ed Jinks left Germany with an invitation to the 3rd Rugby Union Sevens next year. We also won the prize for the best match shirts of the tournament. We’d like to pay tribute to our tour sponsors Chateau Six, Laing O’Rourke, City & Guilds College Assocation and PathMotion for allowing us to make these fantastic experiences possible.