Official report 2010
Tens all over for another year!
And so the 18th Lapin Kulta Stockholm Tens draws to a close. Certainly one of the better tournaments with a range of teams from a dozen countries, a high standard of play from the better teams and a tremendous commitment both on the playing field and socially from all of the teams. Terrible rainstorms last week gave rise to fears for the tournament weekend. In actual fact it softened up the bonehard pitches, while warm and sunny weather throughout made playing conditions almost perfect. The slight dip in the number of teams entering in 2009 rebounded immediately and the format of 32 Men´s teams, 12 Ladies and 4 Old Boys was quickly established.for 2010.
Day One is moving day as they say in golfing circles and in our case the social teams are quickly separated from the more ambitious ones. In view of the large numbers of new clubs, seeding was tricky but worked out in fact rather well as seven of the eight seeded teams made it to the quarter-finals. Multiple former winners Olorun Sharks changed format slightly recruiting a large part of the succesfull Swedish sevens team, changing their name to Olorun Vikings but still retaing a solid core of good English club players. The main threats were expected to come from Wooden Spoon, winners in 2008, last year´s narrowly beaten finalists The Bootleggers and Millfield Old Boys, runners-up in the Amsterdam Sevens this year. The Viking´s progress to the semis was smooth enough, as was that of the Wooden Spoon but the two others joining them were less expected. French outfit Côté Ouvert edged out Millfield 24 – 19, while the home team, Stockholm Exiles, outplayed London Scottish based Kukri Badgers 33 – 17 to send them home earlier than usual. The two semis were extremely tough affairs where Vikings finally got the better of the Frenchmen, 24 – 12; Wooden Spoon beat Exiles 19 – 0 but spent a considerable amount of time desperately defending.
The final proved to be equally demanding. Olorun Vikings got an early seven-pointer but the Spoons fought back to make it 7 – 5 at the break. Vikings added another seven from far out just after the break but thereafter it was mainly Spoons. It was clear that both teams were on their last legs. A chip through was gathered, however, to make it 14 – 10 and with a couple of minutes to go a clever kick to the corner saw the Spoon´s winger gather to give them the narrowest of wins 15 – 14.
At the lower levels, the Plate was won by Teamlink Titans who just held on against a gritty Belgian side Leuven. The Bowl final was won by the Spaniards from Club Portuense who beat the Henley War Dogs while the Swedes from Linköping carried off the Shield against Welwyn Rangers.
The Ladies´ tournament was perhaps a little weaker than usual with the upcoming world championships siphoning off many Stockholm regulars, both Swedish and foreign. The Moody Cows proved to be a bit too strong for the opposition with their little winger ”Stimmo” proving too fast when given space to move.
The OB tournament proved very competitive with three teams all on the same points. Henley just got the nod on countback.
The social aspects of the Tens were as hectic as always. An Irish pub, the Liffey, proved to be a focal point on the Friday, the fancy dress party and disco at the ground attracted large numbers on the Saturday and the closing party on the Sunday in Stockholm also pulled in over 600 participants.
26 referees, male and female, from all over Europe provided teams of three for all 108 matches, a fantastic achievement which ran like clockwork. Well done convenor Julian Bevan.! The indefatigable Dr von Bergen a k a Dr Death together with a qualified medical staff of ten performed their usual heroics (250 treatments on Day One, almost as many on Day Two). Thanks to them all!
Food and drink as usual superb, thanks to Karl, Gerry and their merry men.
And a final thanks to the men who make it all possible, supremo Allan Mabon and administrator Hunter Mabon Jr. They are of course assisted on the day by others too numerous to mention.
The Stockholm Tens is run by the Stockholm Exiles RFC, the largest club in Sweden. They run four senior teams and have activities all the way down to U7. Any surplus generated from the Tens goes straight to club funds.
Exiles will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in a couple of years and this will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Tens. We will be planning something special for these occasions.
HM Sr