CBA Triumph

For those of you that are not aware about the CBA (Catholic Boys Association), it is a Rugby 7s team founded by three young students at Oxford Brookes University. An OE one evening happened to point out to his two pals that all three of them were Catholics and perhaps it would be a great idea to start a Rugby 7s team? Two years on the CBA has grown and matured. The group have one rule which is that players are only eligible to play if they are Catholic or have been educated at a Catholic School!

CBA Team

For the second year running the CBA 7s rugby team entered into the Oxford Brookes University Rugby 7s tournament. Much was expected from us this time round due to our impressive debut in 2006. During that tournament the CBA defeated the defending champions and favourites of the event!

During the week of the tournament things were not looking good for the CBA and players that had committed themselves had pulled out of playing. The kit had arrived but there were not enough Catholic Boys to fill the shirts. After a chat with the local priest after mass at the Oratory Church the priest said to us that he would like to bless the teams kit and reassured us that all would come together- he was not wrong!

CBA ... seeking inspiration

The day of the tournament came around and fortunately we were not drawn in a group against the tournament favourites who happened to be after revenge as we beat them last year! The group stages went better than expected (7 wins out of 7). This was success in itself, however that meant we were up against the dreaded favourites in the semi final! Armed with a fully capped England 7s international and 2 South African provincial players the CBA were always going to be up against it! Going 2 tries down by half time things were not looking good and it looked like the CBA Juggernaut was coming to an abrupt halt. Little did they know that this year the CBA were equipped with no less than 4 Old Edmundians (Martin Docherty, Tom 'Tucker' Cullinan, Patrick Loughrey and Ian Reid). All of a sudden the CBA were back at two tries each and heading for extra time. A delightful chip through in extra time by Ian Reid (OE) somehow created a try for himself when many CBA supporters crying from the touchlines were pleading for him not to kick it! The crowd went wild and the CBA weren't finished there by grabbing two more tries after this- a white wash!!!

CBA triumphant

The CBA reached the final but we had little left after the semi final and due to this suffered defeat in the final. This didn't detract from our success of the day as we pulled together and performed better than we possibly thought manageable at the beginning of the week!

The CBA were represented by old boys from St Edmunds, St Mary's (Dublin), Stonyhurst, Downside and Worth. It is planned that we will enter into the Harpenden 7s in September and if anyone is interested in supporting the team or even playing then please could you get in touch with Patrick Loughrey? It is our plan in the future to regularly play in the 7s circuit and if successful win prize money which we will donate to a charity to tbc.

Avita Pro Fide

Updated on 12 June 2007