The theme of the annual Estates Gazette-sponsored tournament at Richmond Athletic Ground was unlocking space on rain-soaked pitches amid intermittent bouts of torrential downpours.
And it was the student teams RICS Matrics, Reading University, Cass Business School and Oxford Brookes that turned out to be best equipped to do this, with traditional favourites including King Sturge and Savills both notable victims (however not before Savills had thrashed British Land 38-0 – let’s hope BL is a good loser).
A bruising CB Richard Ellis team was the one stalwart of the tournament that managed to battle its way through to the latter stages, beating Cass 12-0 in the semi final. The other semi final between Reading Matrics and Oxford Brookes was a tighter affair, with Oxford Brookes trailing for much of the match before coming through 14-7.
That set up a final where the heavy rain seemed to favour the bulkier CBRE team, chasing its first tournament title in six years. After a close opening period however Oxford Brookes’ freeflowing style saw them race to a 14-0 first half lead before cantering home 33-0.
It was all the more impressive as much of the team had exams the next day.
Captain William Spencer, who was sitting a project management course at 9.30am the next morning, said the team’s success had been based on a desire to throw the ball around whatever the weather.
“Importantly we had the mix of size and speed to match CBRE. And we trained for longer this year.”
Oxford Brookes’ Luke Bugden was man of the tournament.
In the Plate final Drivers Jonas Deloitte was impressive in seeing off a decent Gardiner & Theobald side 21-0, with two spectacular tries from David West – a useful recruit from Deloitte.
DJD captain Jason Margetts, who works in the West End leasing team, said the team, which included three Deloitte players, has benefited in particular from playing a lot of 15s rugby recently. “We are as fit as we have ever been.”
The day was not without controversy with two players from
But elsewhere there was the familiar mix of quality rugby and bonhomie.
The tents were bursting with young property people tucking into tasty food, Gordon Wood and Chris Mackaness were on top form in the commentary box, particularly in providing regular updates on the Twenty20 WorldCup, and there was a lot of money raised for the charity, Kids Kidney Research, which provides practical assistance in finding cures for paediatric kidney and related diseases.
And despite the bad weather the traditional streaking took place – with two particularly hardy souls performing the haka sans clothes in front of the main stand during the final’s half-time break.
Any team that wants copies of photographs from the day should contact joshjgreen@googlemail.com
paul.norman@estatesgazette.com
