A solid performance for the Berlin Irish saw them finish 5th at the 4th DRF Sevens Tournament on Saturday.

Nikolaeva and Lorenzetti Celebrate a try

Spring had really sprung and a beautiful day of sunshine greeted the SG Berlin Irish/BSC on Saturday at the Hamburg Rugby Park, home to St Pauli and Hamburger Rugby Club. The group saw the SG given a very tough draw against the strong hosts and perennial title contenders RK03 Berlin. Despite a couple of high profile injuries the team was able to put a strong squad together to continue their push towards the top half of the DRF Sevens North-East table.

A slow start against St Pauli cost the team dear, falling behind to two soft tries in the opening stages, as the players struggled to organise defensively. And although a Carron score, and an excellent conversion by Lorenzetti reduced the deficit, Pauli never surrender control of the game, running out winners despite an improved second half.

Irish/BSC 7 - 20 St Pauli

The next group match against RK was a real back and forth battle against a hard running and well drilled team. Slobin crashed through the line and outpaced the chasing defence to keep the half time score close at 7-10, but in the second half the defensive effort told. And even though Carron scored from close range, by the end RK’s firepower told true and the team slipped to a second defeat, leaving them facing a playoff for 5th place.

Irish/BSC 12 - 19 RK03

A match up against traditional rivals BSV followed which show cased two very contrasting styles of rugby. The SG dealt very well with the direct running and offloading of the opposition and we’re repeatedly able to create opportunities on the ball. With the centers and wingers repeatedly combining to pull the BSV defence apart. Nikolaeva opened the scoring on a set move and Murtagh and Huisinga (2) kept the scoreboard ticking over to seal a solid victory

Irish/BSC 28 - 5 BSV/Rostock

The final game saw the SG take on Kiel for 5th place and although Kiel took their chances when they could, the SGB put on a real try scoring display, including a Hattrick for Slobin and a brace from Huisinga. With tired legs creeping in, two late tries for Kiel raised the possibility of a comeback which was shut down after an excellent try by Murtagh to take the game well out of reach and secure a decent 5th place.

Irish/BSC 34 - 17 Kiel

Team

Morgane Carron
Margarete Huisinga
Sini Huttunen
Elli Lorenzetti (vc)
Marta Marciniak (c)
Sinead Murtagh
Nelli Nikolaeva
Shayna Slobin
Paula Wegner
Yunzhu Zhang*
Ieva Ziffels

* (Debut)

Match Report: DRF Sevens Series #4

Team