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The White Hart Marauders 30th Year Celebrations 1982 - 2012

The 2012 Sevens Season starts in May and The White Hart Marauders celebrate 30 years
in the game of Sevens so we plan to make it a big year.

Come and Join us in our celebration and download the latest update here...


Amsterdam 2012 - 30 Years of 7's

Our 30th Anniversary

By now you may have heard that the 2012 Amsterdam sevens will the 30th consecutive time that the White Hart Marauders have attended this great event. We plan to have a few special nights in the Corso, and there should be a good turnout of Marauders supporters to raise the roof.

We are entering three sides in the tournament – Elite, Academy and Vets, and of course the Vets are the defending champions having now won the Vets Tournament for the last two years so the craic promises to be good. Our promising youngsters in the Academy will be making their debut at Amsterdam 2012, and the Elite side will be fired up to go for a big win again, so make sure you are there to cheer them on! We will also be celebrating the life of Big James who as you are no doubt aware sadly passed away last year. He will be watching us from somewhere up there and we will be charging our glasses to him on numerous occasions.

So come on and join the party! The tournament is on Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th May 2012. Bookmark that date in your diaries and we will let you know details before the end of February. Look out for our 30th Year of Sevens emails and Facebook messages over the coming months! Download the latest news and press release here...


Harpenden Sevens 2011

Saved the Best for Last

Following what has been a disappointing season in many ways August bank holiday Sunday saw White Hart Marauders return to the National Pub 7s at Harpenden in Hertfordshire and absolutely devastate the opposition as they rediscovered the form that has seen them in the top echelons of the 7s circuit for over 30 years.

For the second time in 5 years we renamed the squad in the memory of a close friend who had passed away. In 2006 it was Sue Smith and we went on to win the tournament beating the Army in the last play of the final. This year we dedicated the side to James van Amstel, a major sponsor and manager of the Café Corso, the Marauders Club House in the red light district of Amsterdam. For full details of the game go here.... For the slideshow go here...


Newquay Surf Sevens Tournament – Super Sevens Series

 

Last weekend saw this years Super Series draw to a close at the sun drenched Newquay Surf Sevens. Following a number of shock results at the West Country 7s two weeks earlier there were 5 teams in a position to take the title however with a few squad changes and among the major contenders it was fair to say that the results here went to form and Samurai Barracudas took the event title and secured the overall series.

Marauders started well with a tenacious win against the physical West Country Cavaliers and secured a 33 - 14 win. Next up were the ever improving Apache who have been solid all series. In a highly competitive game the difference was a rarely seen penalty goal to secure the win for Apache 13 - 12 putting us through to a quarter final meeting with the Army 7s.

With player coach Howard Graham dropping to the bench following a head and rib injury we played some solid sevens to get to half time at two tries a piece, however in the second half some defensive mistakes crept in and the Army stretched away to secure a comfortable win. All in all it has been a disappointing series, however we have stayed true to our principals and continued to bring on new talent with Jordan Burns and Gabe Hill stepping up into to our absentee Internationals shoes and doing a fine job.

We have been so close to getting it right I am confident that there are some big performances to come from this squad and maybe it will be as soon as this coming weekend in the Middlesex 7s at Twickenham.

Squad: Howard Graham, Adam Bishop, Jake Henry, Simon Pitfield, Kev James, Gabe Hill, Jordan Burns, Sam Edgerley, Luke Trehorn,Josh Matavesi, Alex Neilson, Team Manager: Barrie Torbett.


Inaugural Super Sevens Series event at London Rugby Rocks tournament in Richmond (4th June)

A scorching hot, sunny day saw some fiery rugby action in the Inaugural Super Sevens Series event at the Rugby Rocks Tournament in Richmond.

The Marauders, with an excellent squad on paper, started very slowly but managed to catch up enough to win their group and then move into the quarters finals where we were beaten by a very well drilled Gilbert Pups side.

The final was contested by Samurai Barracudas and the Army, with Samurai running out winners by 33 points to 24, which sounds a bit similar to last year’s overall series outcome.

As you might imagine the White Hart Marauders are keen to break up these two teams at the top of the table, so a bit of a disappointing day for the Marauders but Howard and Barrie are working hard to get the boys in shape for the West Country Sevens on the 18th June where they will be looking to be sharper right from the start!

Having reached the quarter finals we are currently sitting joint 4th in the series table (see here) so it is important to have a top two result to get back into the reckoning at West Country. The Richmond Marauders squad photo can be seen above when you click on the picture.


Eversley Wild Boar 7s, 29th May 2011

Whilst the party animals headed to Bournemouth, the 7s purists gathered in Eversley, Hampshire for the second staging of the Wild Boar 7s and were treated to an exceptionally high standard of rugby that exceeded the quality of the inaugural event last August.

With all games played on one pitch in the wonderful setting of the Eversley Sports Association ground, supporters, players and their families enjoyed 8 hours of exciting rugby without having to leave their seats, bar or food concessions.

12 teams competed for three trophies and a total of £1,500 in prize money with defending Champions Samurai Sharks hoping to do the double, but there were a few dark horses in the field that threw up one or two surprises. See the full description of the event here....


Amsterdam 2011

Marauders Vets 10's

We are proud to announce that The Marauder Vets continued their winning ways in the 2011 Vets 10s Tournament in Amsterdam, having won the previous year against the formidable Pacific Islanders.

This year they beat the Wooden Spoons in a one sided final. Captain Warren (Lofty) Milne said they are starting to get back to the form they had in 2006 when they won three tournaments, and had their best ever year.

To top this, one of the Marauders players, Brad Hepi, was awarded player of the Vets Tournament, a great honour for Brad and the team given the standard of the Amsterdam Tournament.

The Marauders Vet brushed aside all of the competition to win this year’s event where their points result must be an Amsterdam record. Their final tally was a score of 154 points for, and zero against, a very impressive performance. Well played to Lofty and the lads!


Amsterdam Sevens 2011

WHM made their annual pilgrimage to the Amsterdam Sevens this weekend of 21st May for the 29th time for what was the 40th anniversary of the tournament. Click on the picture to see the team.

Amsterdam is one of the largest 7s events in Europe and its is run over two days. Day one sees all the teams mixed together in varying standards and the day one results sets the seeding for the Silver Pier event on the Sunday.

With our Senior players Howard Graham and James Reilly in the squad the average age was 21 but the whole squad played some mature and exciting 7s rugby to rack up 27 tries on the Saturday and a further 16 on the Sunday morning which put us into a quarter final slot against our long term rivals HFC Wailers.

Matches between our two sides are always nail biting and this one was no different. Playing end to end rugby and entering the last play of the game we found ourselves 19 - 17 down when the ref awarded a penalty to us and no time to kick to the corner.

Howard Graham stepped up to the plate to kick the penalty which could win us the match and a semi final place. In blustery conditions the ball went agonizingly wide of the posts.

Game over. HFC Wailers went on to win the tournament.

Another day for what might have been!

The Veterans 10s final was between reigning champions Marauders Vets and long tem adversaries and three times winners Wooden Spoon.

Marauders were by far the stronger side and ran out 22-0 winners.


Super Sevens Series 2011

The Super Sevens Series is launched in 2011 to give Sevens rugby a platform for development and to establish a strong programme for Elite Non-Professional Sevens Clubs to perform at an ‘Elite’ level. See their website here....

The Core Clubs involved are: White Hart Marauders, Samurai Barracudas, HFW Wailers, Apache, British Army, Ronin Impact, Olorun ID, Gilbert Pups and Koru Kamikaze.

The nine specialist invitational teams will compete for the Super Sevens Series crown over three exciting tournaments at three great venues:

Rugby Rocks Sevens, London 4th June 2011 West Country Sevens, Bath, 18th June 2011 Surf Sevens, Newquay, 2nd July 2011


Marauders Academy U19 lads shine at the National County Sevens Championship

Surrey U19’s won the National County Sevens Championship at the weekend with four of the new Marauders Academy squad members * picking up 19 of the team’s total tries scored, and 14 of the 19 conversions. See the Facebook page for more here....

Ryan Jeffrey was the side’s top try scorer with 9 touch downs and 12 conversions, and Alex O’Meara third in line with 5.

The Surrey squad were supported by two of the Marauders Academy Development coaches, ex-Marauder Keith Boatman, and Ron Campbell.

Keith and Ron have both been involved in the coaching and management of Surrey in the past and are keen to see some of these lads making the grade in the Marauders Academy and beyond.

We are all looking forward to seeing Ryan Jeffrey, Alex O’Meara, Charlie Rooke, and Steven Boatman break through the Marauders Academy ranks this year. Good luck boys!

National county sevens results below:

Overall Summary of Scores

Surrey 31 – 5 Somerset

Surrey 38 – 0 Lancashire North

Surrey 26 – 7 Leicestershire B

Surrey 44 – 5 Cheshire B

Surrey 31 – 5 Dorset & Wilts A

Surrey 48 – 26 Warwickshire A (Finals)

Tries – 36        

Jeffrey 9  *       

Corby-Reddon 6

O’Meara 5  *     

Sharp 4            

Cooke 3

Rooke 3  *

Boatman 2  *

Rowbotham 2

Foley 1

Mulleady 1

Conversions – 19

Jeffrey 12  *

Mulleady 4

Boatman 2  *

Corby-Reddon 1

 


Manchester Sevens 15th May 2011

 

The Senior Squad travelled to wet and windy Manchester for the Manchester 7s. There was a strong field assembled and our pool games saw us having to work hard to get passed a well drilled Dutch National side 14 - 12.

Next up was Leicester Tigers which was a game we should have won but we went down 14 - 7 in a hard fought match. This made us runners up in our pool and for the second week running matched us against the Spanish National side playing as Samurai Barracuda in the quarter finals.

Having gone down 5 tries to one last week we took them on through the middle and with a minute left on the clock we lead 14 -10 when player coach Howard Graham was shown a yellow card for remonstrating with the ref which turned to red following a further exchange of pleasantries.

The lads tried to hang on to the ball and run the clock down but a loose pass left the gap and the Spaniards went through 17 -14.

Squad: Howard Graham, Jake Henry, Jack Clifford, Jordan Burns, Sam Randell, Sikeli, Eron Rataluvu, Adam McKenzie, Matt Clarke, Simon Pitfield, Will Brown.


Bury St Edmunds Sevens 8th May 2011

 

WHM returned to Bury St Edmunds on Sunday (8th) for what is fast becoming one of the highest standard tournaments of the season. As well as the usual invitational teams the full England side were entered along with Saracens, Northampton Saints and the Spanish national side playing under the Samurai Barracuda banner.

With our regular mix of youth and experience Marauders dispatched Southend and the RAF before falling to Saracens mainly due to not looking after ball at the breakdown. Player coach Howard Graham sustained a nasty head injury which right at the end of the game preventing him starting the next game as runners up in the pool and a meeting with Samurai (Spain) in the quarter final.

Unfortunately loose ball was again our downfall against an extremely well drilled side that went onto beat HFW Wailers in the semi before dispatching England in the final 21 - 19. It is worth pointing out that this was the full England 7s squad.

Team: Howard Graham, Ledua Jope, Sikeli, Adam Bishop, Jake Henry, Greg Illingworth, Sam Randell, Sam Miller, Jordan Burns, Ali Bone


Rosslyn Park Sevens Thursday 5th May 2011

 

Having been asked with only a weeks’ notice to play in the Rosslyn Park Sevens on Thursday 5th May, and unable to select any of our squad who will be playing in the ULR Premier Sevens at Bury St Edmunds on Sunday, we pulled together a scratch side of relative newcomers.

We beat a strong Wasps side, and as the plate final was about to start the commentator who obviously didn’t know too much about the Marauders said, “Introducing the White Hart Marauders who I believe come from a pub in Hampshire. You better get ready Marauders because you are playing The Wasps here tonight”.

So after we beat “The Wasps” by four tries to one Barrie Torbett went into the commentator box and bollocked the commentator for not knowing about the Marauders pedigree. Barrie’s parting comment was “Thanks for doing my motivational talk at the start of the match”.

A good result with only nine players in our squad. Two of the newcomers to Marauders colours were Greg Illingworth and Gabe Hill who attended the successful Marauders Academy Trials on 17th April. Both look as though they have the ability to make the grade to achieve full Marauders honours.


2011 Marauders Academy Development

 

Following the highly successful 2010 season which saw the White Hart Marauders Academy winning its first tournament we now have some more great news to take us into the 2011 season.

We would now like to formally announce the creation within the Academy structure of a two tier pathway with the objective of identifying and developing younger players who have shown early potential to play sevens rugby at the top level.

The Academy Senior team run by Henry Pinto will still operate pretty much the same way as before and in 2011 will be targeting even greater levels of achievement in this, the squad’s 3rd year, and Henry’s team will now be supplemented by a Development team.

For more details and the full article please go here... and download the PDF file.

Contacts for both sides for more information are:

Henry Pinto – Academy Team Manager. henry@maraudersrfc.com

Keith Boatman – Development Head Coach. keith@maraudersrfc.com

Ron Campbell – Development Coach and Manager. ron@maraudersrfc.com 


Scrumpix Sports & Event Photography

The White Hart Marauders are delighted to form a new and exciting partnership with Scrumpix Photography. 

With lineage that can also be traced to Camberley RFC, Scrumpix Photography look to add great photographic memories for the rugby legends of the Marauders. Scrumpix are official photographers to, Canada RFU, Surrey RFU, Camberley RFC, Touraid Castaways, Black Stallions, and now The world famous White Hart Marauders.

It doesn't matter if it is fifteens or sevens, Scrumpix have got it covered - 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. Call in at http://www.scrumpix.co.uk for unrivalled rugby images including all of the Marauders teams.  Scrumpix Sports & Event Photography, Tel: +44 7804 136712


Mike out, Mike in!!

Some of you will already know that Mike Bedford, our illustrious Hon Treasurer for the last two years has hung up his abacus and decided to ‘get away from boring committee meetings’.

Moshe, as he became known at our meetings due to his adept use of the abacus and nifty wearing of the Kippah, will be missed by the rest of us, and we would like to say ‘thank you Moshe’  for the work that you did in helping with the smooth running of our finances for the last two years!

We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Mike Courtness as our new Hon Treasurer. Mike is well known to most of the Marauders team as he has been a true Marauder since the early days and is also Treasurer at Camberley RFC where he has held the role for as long as anyone can remember. Mike you will be a great addition to the Marauders set up, so welcome to the team!


Riley Sports Photography:

Riley Sports Photography is a professional photo agency based in Swansea South Wales. Formed by Ian Williams in 1995, they have over 15 years experience providing high quality images to newspapers, magazines, clubs and organisations.

Specialising in Rugby, Rileysports are about to start their 4th season as official photographers to the Scarlets region and Llanelli RFC and also have long standing links with other Welsh Premiership Clubs”

Riley Sports are swiftly becoming sevens specialists, having been involved in Sevens rugby, for many years at Cwmtawe and with Olorun and the Carmarthen Warriors. More recently as Official photographers for MR7's and Bath Sevens.

Riley Sports Photography are delighted to be associated with the Marauders in. Marauders and other seven’s images can be found at www.rileysportsphoto.com 


New Marauders Membership Packages Available

Join the White Hart Marauders club and become involved in one of the great rugby sevens traditions.

Both Annual and Life membership now available. To join, please download the membership application form here....


Club Shop – "Sportswear for the Discerning Marauder"   BUY NOW....





 
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