We caught up with Ben Humphries to get an update on his time playing in the 2017 EMIRATES AIRLINE DUBAI RUGBY SEVENS tournament as part of the Empire U19s Sevens squad.
Firstly on behalf of the whole team I would like to thank my sponsors for such a wonderful trip and also to everybody who has supported us and followed on social media. Apologies on the lack of updates - there will be a highlights video coming out shortly.
Once we landed we managed to all claim our baggage, which was a surprise knowing the team. We spent the rest of Wednesday chilling around the beach getting a tan and just having a laugh with the squad.
After an early night the bus driver took us to the Sevens stadium. OMG what a stadium that was. It’s was so big. We located a space near Pitch 3 where we had all our games for the day.
Our first game was against a team called Leopard Barbarians, a South African team who weren’t really well drilled but were just a little bit fitter than us. We narrowly lost to them 21-12 as they scored a last minute try. We still walked away with our heads held high as it was our first 7s game as Empire.
The next game was 2 and a half hours later, so everybody went out to explore. Agreeing a meeting time 30mins before our next game, we went to watch the Women’s game on Pitch 1. On our return it was short and sharp, shirts on and get warmed up ready to play Western Province (Stormers Academy). As they are an academy, we knew it was going to be tough but we stuck in. Playing them was a hard match but we didn’t look out of place and we gave them a hard game. Once again narrowly losing to them 24-10 due to little mistake but for a first time team we were happy with our performance.
The next day everybody was buzzing as we were going to be playing on Pitch 2 under the floodlights with about 2,000 people or more watching. We were all buzzing during the warm up as there were fireworks going off behind us on the main pitch which just added to the excitement.
This game was played against North West Barbarians who eventually went on to win the tournament. They were a South African team who were huge, and I mean HUGE. They were such an outstanding team who were just so much fitter, stronger and their game knowledge was exceptional. But we stuck in with it. Coming off the bench due to a little niggle with my leg and got onto the pitch. My first tackle was a huge one. Stopped him in his tracks. He wasn’t happy, but being within the spirit of rugby we all shook hands at the end and gave them a pat on the back.
We lost to them 24-10 but we all walked away with our heads held firmly high. Especially as they turned up with three coaches, a physiotherapist and a strength and conditioning coach. We spoke to them after the final to congratulate them and their coaches said we were the hardest game they’ve played during the whole tournament. Yes, little Empire 7s who never played with each other before were the hardest team they played!
Just to top off the day, I found Colin Mountford and Tony Geerah who were a delight to see.
We then went on to play Brussels, a Belgium team. We went into it with the completely wrong mindset and got destroyed. By far the worst game we played, but we re-grouped after the game and got it sorted out.
Saturday morning was our last game. The sun was shining and it was around 30 degrees. We were up for it, playing Kazakhstan’s official u19 squad, a team called Olyp. We turned up with the perfect attitude and got on to the pitch and destroyed them. The feeling of actually winning was unreal and the mood was fantastic. To top it all off, our sponsors came to greet us at the end of the game and revealed that they wanted to make it a regular event.
After the game we all went into tour mood smashing on our theme, (shite shirt and short shorts), to watch the Elite 7s. What an experience it was.
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