Bishops win Villager 7s
18th time
As expected Bishops won the 2006 Villager Sevens title on Friday night. In front of a small but enthusiastic crowd Diocesan College beat the South African College School (SACS) 19-14 in the final.
Bishops qualified for the final by beating Tygerberg, while SACS comfortably overcame Lagunya in their semi. Bishops, with the powerful attacking strike-force of amongst others Nick Kõster, Adrian Kritzinger and Matthew Turner, were hot favourites for the event. Bishops excel at Sevens as some would argue they play it all season long. The style they adopt in the fifteen-man version of the game is perfectly suited to Sevens and usually they thrill the crowd with some breathtaking interplay. That was not the case on Friday though as they struggled to overcome a nuggety SACS in the final.
Bishops raced out to a 12-nil lead in the ten-minute a side final. SACS seemed to be feeling the pressure of being in the final against the favourites and things looked ominous. SACS soon got their act together though and through good pressure and positive play they managed to pull ahead 14-12 at the break. Bishops looked to be sitting on their lead and uncharacteristically kicked three balls from inside their own half. SACS accepted the gifts and duly punished their opponents.
For much of the second half the Bishops score remained at 14-12 to SACS, the teams both unable to finish off promising attacking forays. SACS were playing well and it seemed like Bishops were waiting for one of their start players to step up and do the business for them. With three minutes remaining their biggest star did just that as the ball was passed down the line to their SA Schools No. 8 Nick Kõster. He straightened and handed off his marker to race in under the sticks from all of 50 metres out.
With the clock ticking down SACS came back onto the attack and Bishops had a player yellow-carded for backchat. SACS kicked the penalty to the corner and threw the line-out over the top. Bishops knocked the ball on and a Bishops scrum was to be set on the Bishops five-metre line. The referee deemed time to be up though and blew the final whistle, much to the delight of the Bishops fans but the despair of the SACS faithful and rugby enthusiasts around the ground.
Bishops did not produce the fireworks expected of them and were somewhat lucky but did enough to walk off with yet another Villager Sevens title.
Knock-out Rounds:
In Round 2 Bishops B had beaten Rondebosch 19-17 and Tygerberg RFC had beaten Wynberg 27-12.
Quarter-finals
Bishops A vs Jan van Riebeeck, 17-7
Tygerberg RFC vs Bishops B, 33-5
SACS A vs SACS B, 40-7
Lagunya vs Bergvliet A, 17-12
Semi-finals:
Bishops A vs Tygerberg RFC, 21-19
SACS A vs Lagunya, 38-0
Final
Bishops A vs SACS A, 19-14
Tygerberg RFC B beat Bergvliet B to win the Plate.
Winners down the Years
Villager Sevens Trophy
1969 Wynberg
1970 Rondebosch
1971 Plumstead
1972 Rondebosch
1973 SACS
1974 Wynberg
1975 Rondebosch
1976 Bishops
1977 Rondebosch
1978 Bishops
1979 Bishops
1980 Plumstead
1981 Bishops
1982 Bishops B
1983 Bishops
1984 Rondebosch
1985 Bishops
1986 Bishops
1987 Bishops
1988 Bishops
1989 Bishops
1990 Wynberg
1991 Rondebosch
1992 Bishops
1993 Bishops
1994 Wynberg
1995 Kings College, New Zealand
1996 Bishops
1997 Northerns RFC
1998 SACS
1999 Bishops
2000 Rondebosch
2001 Rondebosch
2002 Bishops
2003 Bishops
2004 Tygerberg RFC
2005 Bishops
2006: Bishops
