Isle of Wight crowds brave rain for South Island Sevens

Much of Saturday was wiped out by heavy rain and high winds, as strong as 50mph.

But 80 teams travelled to the Island for the second edition of the South Island Sevens, based in Ryde.

"With one of the strongest line ups in the UK this summer, the men’s elite Rugby 7s, at Ryde School, delivered a spectacular tournament for the 800 spectators who braved the rain," said event organiser, Chris Fletcher.

Debutants, Nissa 7s from Monaco, the Fijian Centaurs, and Scimitar Storm, made their presence felt.

Godfather Rugby, celebrating 25 years of elite rugby sevens, beat favourites, the Army 7s, in a brutal final, to take the 2023 title.

At Appley, that morning, the Beach 5s elite rugby tournament got underway, but in the Ryde Rhinos match aainst the Sketty Hoops, one of their players, Luke Orton, suffered a broken neck and was whisked to hospital.

Ryde School also hosted netball, a new sport for 2023, which attracted 140 players. 

Appley also hosted The NUKU Challenge, a crossfit event, which entertained a large crowd.

Teams of eight athletes faced six gruelling challenges, which included rope climbs, a 1.5km log run and a 250m team swim.

However, the paddleboarding, the Rock2Rock sunset 10km and fireworks were cancelled on safety grounds.

Skateboarding at the Canopy Skatepark, Chale, was cancelled too.  

On Sunday, some summer sunshine finally arrived, with athletes enjoying a full day of sport.

At Ryde School, for the Social 7s, the Isle of Wight’s South Island Sundays team scored three tries in the final exciting two minutes of their semi-final, but it was not enough to take them through — losing out by a single point in the 'second tier' competition.  

Wellington School old boys team, the Bigside Boys, went on to take the trophy.

"The event was full of highs, but marred by a terrible injury to an Island based player," Chris concluded.