A week of mixed emotions in the men’s Maples and Calder National Rugby Sevens Academy following their Shield Championship win in the Serevi International Invitational Sevens that was held in Glendale Colorado last weekend. The squad battled back valiantly after four straight losses in the their first four games, 35 to 0 V USA Olympic Development VII, 43 to 7 V France Military Select, 19 to 12 V Mexico and then 26 to 7 V USA, to finally find their stride and some match pattern and put together excellent wins over Bermuda 26 to 5 in the shield Semi and the US Navy 38 to 7 in the Shield Final to bring home some silverware and purpose.

The weeklong camp at the purpose built Rugby facility in Rugbytown USA, Glendale Colorado was magnificent, superb facilities allowed the team unlimited access to world class training and learning environments and the players took noticeable steps forward. The weeklong camp was also fully sponsored by the City of Glendale meaning that the group simply had to cover flight costs which was also a huge assistance and honor. The level of play is world class as expected and all the players are in top physical condition. There are representative sides from all over the world and while the very top players and teams may not be there as recognized team entities this was definitely a step up from recent tournaments Cayman has attended in the past few years. The altitude of Colorado and heat is also a massive factor on the players so anyone not in absolutely top physical condition would have struggled. The Work of Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave Clancy over the past sevens weeks became very evident especially with the game 6 win over a younger bigger and fitter US Navy who were much fancied to put up a big score in the final.

Director of Rugby Richard Grizz Adams also had mixed emotions about the week long camp and tournament’, yes very pleased with the way the guys have come back on Sunday and the US Navy is a pretty big scalp for us here this weekend and against the run of the cards I would say. I knew coming in that we had about half our team that were experiencing their first sevens tournament, when the teams and players are this good it is a baptism by Fire. We looked like deer in the headlights yesterday, played the US team this morning and did ok and then handled Bermuda and the US Navy comfortably today. The week long camp has been great and of course we know we have a lot of overseas based players who are playing at these levels week in and week out if not better. Clancy is also working with them so I can see already that we are finally getting to a point where fitness is not an issue, we need some more power and just general technique but I feel a lot better about our chances of taking the NACRA Championship title in November than I did at this time last week, so it’s ended on a high and we need to rationalize what we actually achieved this week. I would say of this squad put their best foot forward and the other half will go home wanting to perform better. There are a number of guys domestically who could not make this trip as well so I would estimate probably 20 left with a shout of getting selected so it’s all to work for.’