Last weekend saw the Carmarthen Warriors travel to Hartpury in Gloucestershire to defend their title as 2017 Bamboo Rugby 7s Champions.

Drawn in a group with Livonia Rugby, the RAF Hurricanes and Connolly 7s, the Warriors started in fine style easily disposing of Connolly 54-7 and the Livonians by 40-17.

Notably, newcomers Lewys Gibby (Narberth) and Nant Conwy’s Arthur Lennon showed some silky skills to get on the scoreboard in both encounters.

A bye in their third game saw the Warriors top their group and go into the quarter final against the Cats.

The Warriors struggled after failing to gather two early kicks off, both of which led to them conceding tries..

Fortunately, the experience of Alex Pickerskill and Christopher Roberts brought the Warriors back into the game at half time - and the second half started well with Newcastle Emlyn’s Mike Jones taking charge.

With a minute to go the Warriors led a tight game 19-17.

But some enforced changes due to the boiling hot conditions upset the balance, and a loose offload allowed the Cats to grab a late try, which sent the Carmarthen side into the Plate competition.

Undeterred by their previous lapse, the Warriors eased through the Plate semi final against the tournament favourites Shredded Ducks.

Normal service was resumed with Ianto Griffiths controlling well and providing Tom Powell, Jac Morgan and Thomas Shane with a superb platform to orchestrate matters. The final score was 61-7 to Warriors.

However, the heat and hard surfaces began to take its toll on a number of players before the final, thus pressing coach Tomi Jones into action.

His experienced showed, as Chris Roberts, Llyr Jones and another outstanding player Scott Gibson, all cut loose to torment the South Wales Wildcats defence and win an exciting final 25-19.

Pickersgill was named player of the tournament.

The Plate wasn’t the silverware the Warriors wanted, but the nature of the highly competitive UK 7s circuit shows how even the smallest mistake can cost games and major prizes.

A definite lesson to be learnt by Arwel Davies’ current mix of youth and experience.

Next up for the side is arguably the premier UK tournament, Bournemouth. Over 30,000 spectators and players will contest the two-day event and the festival will also see the return of the Legends in the over 35s competition. The Ladies will be in action too at Trimsaran.

Squad: Tom Powell, Mike Jones , Llyr Jones, Thomas Shane, Scott Gibson, Chris Roberts, Ross Pritchard, Ianto Griffiths, Jac Morgan, Lewys Gibby, Alex Pickersgill, Arthur Lennon.