Final - Crewe & Nantwich 20 - Macclesfield 19
Crewe won by the narrowest of margins and against the odds when they defeated National 1 Macclesfield in the Final of Sandbach 7s yesterday. Tournament favourites, Macclesfield, were placed in a tough group to earn their qualification for the Final playing both the other National League teams of Sandbach and Lymm. Crewe had an easier route but defeated all 4 of their opponents with ease with only the Mercenaries 1s giving them any sort of challenge but Crewe still won by 4 tries. The Final posed a major challenge and a big step up in level with a confident Macclesfield team expecting a win. The physicality of Macclesfield was also something Crewe had not experienced during the afternoon but they soon showed they were going to be competitive in the Final. Macclesfield scored first and Crewe replied with a try on the left hand touchline. Toby Russell-Vick converted the try from the touchline with a tremendous drop kick. Drop kicks is how all conversions, penalties etc are performed in 7s competitions. Macclesfield and Crewe swapped tries twice more with the score being 19-17 with 1 minute of time remaining. After some good Crewe play in the Macclesfield half and with just seconds left on the clock, Crewe were awarded a penalty 25 metres out and 8 metres to the left of the posts. Mr Toby " Cool " Russell-Vick stepped up to the plate and converted another drop goal to win the game! Incredibly, Crewe won the competition in probably the most significant 7s Tournament that the club has ever participated. The boys deserved their victory and with a very young team, it is a sign of things to come for next season. Top scorer of the tournament was "press ganged" Eli Woodward who does not like 7s! But the contribution of all 10 players was magnificent. Thanks must go to our Coaches Dudders and Pembo, Charlotte our lovely physio and our faithful supporters Mrs Colbourne, the Gammage family, Steph, Gwyn, Jim, Dallas and me. We were delighted that many of the Crewe & Nantwich Vets stayed to watch the final and share the moment with the boys immediately after the match and one day hopefully these young guys will share a similar moment in years to come with another Crewe & Nantwich 7s team. The Vets had a great day too defeating Sandbach in their group of the Sandbach 10s Vets Competition and in an earlier game the Crewe Vets scored a fantastic try initiated by Andy "Phil Bennet" Thompson with a couple of sidesteps in the Crewe 22, followed by multiple passes and offloads by the team culminating in Phil Alcock crossing the white wash. The try was reminiscent of the Barbarians playing the All Blacks in the 1970s when Gareth Edwards scored in the corner, except this try was in slow motion but excellent none the less! Crewe & Nantwich's Touch teams were also competing in the Touch Tournament fielding a mixture of experienced and young players. First outing for our #Fire and #Ignite 02 Touch teams over at Sandbach. Both through to respective semi finals and going out honourably at that stage. Super blend of experience and youth - friendships made and plenty of learning for us all. Thank you all for a great day #Blaze #Ignite #Fire #growing the game.
Finally, thanks to our hosts Sandbach who put on another fine tournament.

What a day! It was a just a privilege to be there