2011 edition of the Norwegian 7-a-side Rugby Championship was a real success with 19 participating teams in total.

This year NM 7s was also played under beautiful and unexpected weather conditions, and Stavanger Rugby Klubb, the host of the event, should be congratulated for its perfect organisation. The two together made NM 7s 2011 a great rugby weekend.

On the junior side…

The tournament unfortunately started with a disappointment for the participants as both local junior teams were missing. The Under 16 pool became a pool of 3, and only two under 18 teams were left in Pool D.However, it did not stop the fun and the great rugby.

Strong Horten Under 18…

Horten is a strong team and proved it scoring 198 points in 6 matches against 40 for Flekkefjord. Horten looks ready for senior rugby, and we are looking forward to seeing them next year.

Under 16 Oslo RK-R Cassin impressed…

In a pool of 3 and playing a triple round robin, Oslo won every game against their two opponents from Bergen. The difference between Bønes RK and Bergen RK was not as big since both team won a game and the third was a draw. Unfortunately for Bønes, Bergen benefited from a better Score difference and qualified to the final.

The final turned out to be the best performance of the weekend for Oslo R Cassin with a 58-0 victory in front of an impressed public.

BSI Rugby from Bergen, still leading ladies rugby in Norway…

The good news for ladies rugby was the presence of two recently created teams; Stavanger RK, who qualified to the semi-final, and a young team from Flekkefjord/Revheim. Those two last teams were the challengers, but Trondheim NTNUi, who did really well at the NorgesCup 7s this year, performed poorly at the NM 7s. That was totally unexpected, and it opened wide the door to the final to Oslo RK and BSI.

The final started very well with a first and converted try from Bergen, followed not long after by a response from Oslo to bring the score to 7-5.The pool game between the two teams, earlier on the same day, showed an Oslo team determined to put pressure on BSI to the point of playing 80% of the time around Bergen’s 22. So the first try in the final against Bergen gave hope for a even harder game and possibly a victory. 

But Bergen are a cup winners, and turned the game around when they had to, playing the rest of the game in Oslo’ side and scoring 3 more times. BSI are again and logically the Norwegian Champions with a clear victory over Oslo 22-5.

Stavanger challenged by Blindern…

The two men semi finals eliminated the two teams from Bergen, and the final became an “east vs west” cup final.
The game started like no team want to start a game, with a try against within the first seconds. So, all sort of questions come to our mind. Are they as strong as it looks like? Do they deserve to be in final? Were they lucky in Semi-Final? Blindern played for a spot in the final against Fana who hardly won 22-21 their last pool game against Fredrikstad. So were Fana weaker than we think? Well the score at half time 26-7 surely confirmed doubts about Blindern.

A second half to reveal…
Blindern was not in the final by chance. Quickly in the second half, Blindern brought the score to 26-14, then even 26-19. Blindern had 3 more minutes to score a converted try and have a chance to win this final. The final became an exciting entertainment with a strong suspens. Will Blindern have the energy to score one more time? People who liked the show, surely hoped so.

Unfortunately for Blindern, the last try was awarded to Stavanger a few seconds before the end. Stavanger who played perfectly during the whole tournament became 2011 Norwegian Champion. Blindern and Stavanger gave us a wonderful final game. Thank you!

Congratulations to all four winners and thanks to Stavanger RK for the great Rugby week-end.