Having been disappointed bt the weather, limiting our possible practice programme and causing the cancellation of our own tournament, which was to field some formidable opposition, our preparations for the National Schoolboys Sevens at Rosslyn Park still got off to an exceptional start.

On Wednesday March 8, at Beckenham RFC, we defeated all-comers to win the Kent RFU Easter Challenge Cup; and then on Sunday March 12 reached the final of the Streatham/Croydon Invitation Tournament going down 18-6 to Emanuals.

With to injuries to our squad of fourteen the selected nine went to the Kent Sevens with only modest expectations. However, the new midfield men Clive Mortimer and in particular Ian Jenner, played with such maturity behind the relentless ball winning team of Bob Baker (Captain), Andy Marshall and Mike Lambert, that the prompting and control of Paul Solly, supported by the extra pace of Chris Maile on the wing, saw the Duke's seven reach the smi-final beating St Olave's (22-6), King's Canterbury (14-6) and Judd (14-6) with some fine all round play.

It was in the semi-final against a fast and competitive Haberdashers Aske's where Duke's faced their sternest test and it was the strength of the forwards, some fine defence, especially by Solly and Marshall and a crucial late conversion by Lambert which saw us through.

In the final we found ourselves against a fast, mobile Sevenoaks team. However the mobility was subdued by a fine defensive performance in the first half, and half time saw us leading by a Solly try.

After an equalising try by Sevenoaks at the beginning of the second half, and some resuing tackles by Jenner, a feature of his play throughout the year, Duke's took control of the game mainly by the extra possesion from out much heavier and more powerful forwards, and tries by Lambert and Maile and a conversion by Lambert saw the cup to Dover.

At Streatham/Croydon , with Rosslyn Park in view, a winning combination was split up to allow the experienced Paul Jones and Barry Sanderson their chance.

It proved a disastrous decision for the opening game as the Duke's managed to squander a mountain of possesions in going down 0-3 to than Eltham drop goal.

However luck was with us, in as much as we were in league, and, with Eltham losing to Wimbledon College 0-6 and Duke's beating a weak Wansworth side 40-0 (Jones and Sanderson justifying their selection by scoring 28 points between them) the winners of Wimbledon ( DYRMS would lead Group IV).

In an intriguing match, where Duke's never lost the lead, Wimbledon came back and nearly snatched the draw, which would have seen them through to the semi-finals. Duke's were leading 14-0, with a try by Baker, and 2 from Sanderson, when Jenner, the hero and villain of the piece, more than made up for wasting the chance that would have clinched the game, when he hared back more that 60 yards from the opposite wing to produce a match saving tackle in the final minute.