Spitfires and Sun shine at the Scandinavian Open

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It was a balmy weekend in Copenhagen when teams from across Northern Europe descended on the Danish capital for a long weekend of exciting rugby. The Scandinavian Open has been running for the last 24 years, and teams have come from as far as the USA and Fiji to compete in this auspicious event which is the highlight of the Scandinavian sevens season.

The RAF Spitfires, who have gone from strength to strength over the season, travelled to Copenhagen on the Thursday evening, staying at the historic Danish Marine Barracks in Copenhagen. Friday was spent as a last minute training day with the tournament being run over Saturday and Sunday. Teams were drawn in groups of four from which they would progress to a further two groups from which the winners would play in the final. The Spitfires travelled with high hopes of success, given their progression through the season thus far and morale was high on day one.

The Spitfires were drawn against teams from Denmark and Sweden in the first group stages with the opening match against Lindo, an established Danish side. The RAF kicked off and it wasn’t long before the regained possession through Tim Barlow who passed out to Boulmer’s Dan Kennedy who stepped back to reform the line, before passing out to one of Lyneham’s Welsh wizards, Gareth Hopkins, who stepped inside a tackle and went on to score in the corner. From the subsequent kick-off, Lindo decided to return the kick to Rory Wood who moved the ball forward to Tim Barlow who completes a classic goose-step in the middle of the pitch before splitting the defence in two and scored under the posts. Lindo finally manage to secure some ball later in the half, but from their own line-out the ball went loose and made it’s way out to Lyneham’s other Welsh wizard, James Challenger, who scored in the corner.

The second half continued in the same vein. Dan Kennedy received the kick-off but a subsequent knock-on gave Lindo the scrum. The RAF were awarded a penalty from a later holding on, and a fantastic ball out to Callum Smith saw him off-load to Gareth Jacobs and then to Tchad Collins-Francois who stepped around a tackle to score. Another try follows shortly from Linton’s Callum Smith and in the dying moments of the match, James Challenger is fed the ball in the centre of the pitch and breaks through several tackles to score. Final score RAF Spitfires 34, Lindo 0.

The second match was against the Swedish side Borass who had high hopes of doing well. However, the RAF had a different plan, and from the initial kick-off the RAF moved the ball wide across the pitch to Tchad Collins-Francois who ran the full length of the pitch to score under the posts. Borass’ problems continue and they knock-on from the next kick allowing Dan Kennedy to take possession, passing to Phil Thomas who runs in to score and convert his own try. Borass came back and gained a bit of territory, but from their own scrum, Matt Pereira stole the ball and passed across the pitch, before receiving the ball again himself in the centre and ran in to touch down. Another score comes from Phil Thomas before halftime, and the Spitfires were on a roll.

From the secod half kick-off, Cranwell’s James Woodcock receives, passes across field and gets the ball back to run the full length and score giving the Spitfires a commanding 33-0 lead. The RAF continued to dominate – Dan Kennedy receives the next ball and passes out to James Challenger, who again ran the length to touch down. Not to be out-done by his compatriot, Gareth Hopkins followed a minute later with a try under the posts. From the RAF kick-off, Kinloss’ Richie Craig raced forward and collected the ball himself, then passed out to Tim Barlow who handed off to Matt Pereira who scored. Finally, a brilliant ball from Dan Kennedy inside to Gareth Hopkins sealed the game for the Spitfires who won by a commanding 59 points to 0.

The final game of the group phase was against another Danish team – Aarhus – probably more famous as an easyjet destination! The Spitfires were confident following the earlier successes, however, the first score was slow to come with Aarhus retaining possession for some time. However, from an RAF scrum, Rory Wood got the ball to Callum Smith who spotted a line in the centre and ran in to score. From an Aarhus line-out, Richie Craig managed to steal the ball, handed off to Tim Barlow who spread it across the back line to Callum Smith who again ran in to score. Aarhus managed to retain some possession but a knock-on gave the ball back to the RAF. It was fed back out to James Challenger who, spotting a gap, chipped ahead, sprinted forward and collected beautifully and then scored under the posts, to give the Spitfires a commanding 21-0 halftime lead.

The scoring continued in the second half, with Callum Smith ruling the centre of the field. A quick ball from Tim Barlow allowed him through in the centre. When Aarhus finally got possessing, the RAF pushed them back behind their own line and from the Spitfire scrum, Tchad Collins-Francois picked up to score in the corner. Played continued in the Aarhus 22 for some time with tries subsequently again from Callum Smith and James Challenger. However, the try of the game came from forward Dan Kennedy who picked up on the wing, looped backwards and inside to the centre, ran around three players and scored under the posts. A resounding victory for the RAF at 54 points to 0, which left them top of the group and top points scorers of the tournament going into the second day.

Sunday’s competition was going to be much tougher, in that the winner of each group now played in a further group phase before the final. The other teams in the group were all experienced seven’s sides and included teams from Denmark, the UK and Fiji. The first match was against the top Danish side, RK Speed, who were the hosts of the tournament, and it promised to be an exciting game. From the get-go, possession switched back and forth, with Speed getting most of the referee’s decisions in the first few minutes. But the constant RAF pressure finally paid off when James Challenger brought the ball back inside from the wing to Callum Smith who barged through to score. The Spitfires were determined to capitalise on this lead and Callum Smith led the way, breaking back inside from the back of the scrum to find another line through the defence to score giving the Spitfires a commanding 14-0 lead at halftime.

The team continued their strong running in the second half, however relaxed a little too much, and a quick ball from a Speed scrum allowed their centre through to score. Speed, who sported 5 Danish internationals, continued to keep the pressure on, but the RAF managed to regain possession and an excellent break by Dan Kennedy unluckily fell short of the line. However the ball was fed out to Gareth Hopkins who ran down the wing to score. Rory Wood finally kicked for touch giving the RAF a 19-7 win.

The games were to get more difficult as the team progressed and the next match was against the Otters, a well recognised UK side with loads of seven’s experience. However, the RAF started well with a break by James Woodcock. Not seeing any space he stepped back and passed the ball out to Gareth Jacobs who ran it in to score in the corner. From the kick-off, Jacobs again charged forward to collect the ball and chipped forward where it was collected by James Woodcock, who off-loaded to Tim Barlow who scored. It seemed the team were on a roll when the ball again came back to Tim Barlow who received from Richie Craig, and stepped around two defenders to score again. However the Otters were quick to respond and managed a try of their own in the dying seconds of the half.

The Otters pressure continued through the next 7 minutes of play and they managed an early try to close the gap. But the Spitfires were quick to respond and from the kick-off Tim Barlow managed another goose-step (his trademark) down the wing to score. Woodcock was unlucky not to follow a few minutes later, but a high tackle from the RAF gave the Otters another opportunity to score and get themselves within one try of the Spitfires. However, time was not on their side and the referee finally blew the whistle on a closely fought match where the RAF came up trumps at 24 points to 19.

The final group test, and what was to be the group decider, was between the RAF and the Fijian side, Viti Outlaws. This side was made up of several internationals, and they were in a different class to most teams in the competition. This was proven when within one minute they had scored their first try due to a lucky break in the centre. However, the Spitfires were unperturbed and drove forward to the Viti 22. But possession soon passed to the Fijians who broke from the off-side of their own scrum to add another score. The RAF regained possession soon after and from their own line-out got the ball out to James Challenger who passed back inside to Callum Smith, then took the ball again down the wing to score leaving the RAF trailing by 7-17 at halftime.

The second half started well for the Fijians, running in another score to stay ahead. However it wasn’t long before Callum Smith broke their defensive line and brilliantly passed the ball out to Richie Craig who scored under the posts. The RAF added another try shortly after as a result of a great break by Barlow and the gap was now only one try. With only minutes to go the RAF had pushed the Fijians up to their own 22 and had a scrum to break from. But the ball popped out the wrong side and the Fijians broke down the wing to score. The whistle went and the Fijians were victors by 29-19.

This meant the end of competition for the RAF, with the Fijians going on to easily win the final against a Danish team. This tournament was the fifth of the season for the RAF, and the improvement over each fixture has been incredible. The squad has fully gelled as players, morale is as high as it could be, and each player is itching to get back on the field to prove their worth. Sevens has gone from strength to strength this season and player/coach Tim Barlow is extremely proud of the squad’s achievements. “I think we have showed what can be achieved with sevens, and each of these players will start the 15’s season a much fitter, more rounded, and more skilled player. We could not have asked for more in this our first season.” Manager, Blythe Crawford, echoed his sentiments. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was to make the knock-out rounds of a competition – here we are almost winning an international tournament in our first season! We have been extremely pleased both with the attitude of the players and their commitment to the game over the summer. Sevens demands more commitment than most Service sports, in that all tournaments are played at weekends and we are mostly relying on personnel giving up their spare time to compete. Our aim is not only to develop sevens as a sport within itself, but to develop players over the summer months for the 15-a-side squad, and hopefully the senior management will see a difference in those players who have competed this season. I am sure we can keep this momentum going over the next few seasons, and we are very grateful to the Sports Board and RAFRU for allowing us this opportunity to develop the game.”