After our success in the Rugby Europe 7s Conference 2 Championships 2024 in Montenegro, which led to promotion, a huge amount of work has gone on in the background in preparation for the 2025 campaign, which will see us participate in two high profile but very different Championships in the summer.
The first event will be the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE), which take place in Andorra between 26 and 31 May 2025. These games are part of the Olympic movement and will see the Cyprus Rugby 7s team travelling and competing at the games as part of the wider Cyprus Olympic Team.
The second event is the Rugby Europe 7s Conference 1 Championships, also being played in Andorra over the weekend of 20 - 22 June 2025.
Intensive Training Program Shapes Future 7s Team
Initially, 20+ players were identified as having the potential to play in the 7s team. They were set a rigorous training programme by the Coaching staff, Marko Mladenovic and Alex Zavallis-Roebuck, both ex-Cyprus International players at XV & 7s, to ensure a high level of fitness coming into the 7s season.
As well as skill and ability, fitness is key so that players can perform to the highest level due to the fast and ferocious intensity of the 7s format of rugby.
The players undertook the programme, posting their efforts back to the Coaches so that progress could be monitored.
Exclusive Rugby Training Camp at Glenalmond College Strengthens Cyprus Team
In further preparation, a weekend training camp was organised in Scotland and took place at the prestigious Glenalmond College located in Perth. This venue was selected to host the training camp due to its strong links with Cyprus Rugby.
Marcus Holden, a current Cyprus player, interim Cyprus XV Head Coach in 2024, and Captain of the winning 2024 7s team in Montenegro, is Head of Rugby at Glenalmond College. Thanks to him, we were able to use the facilities to put the players through their paces.
A squad of 16 players were invited to attend. Together with Team Manager, Dave Lee, 3 players based in Cyprus travelled across for the camp and were joined by Cyprus players based in London, the South East and surrounding areas, Manchester and Stirling.
The training took place over the weekend of 7 - 9 March and involved on-field, game-based coaching including drills, tactics and roles within the team, review and analysis, team building and also group discussions on hopes and expectations for the season ahead, with some shared experiences from some of the players who went to the 2023 GSSE in Malta.
“This camp has been really exciting; we’ve developed so much as a team. Tactics and standards have elevated and I’m expecting big things for GSSE Andorra”
- Yianni Baimas
The weekend concluded with a mini round robin tournament organised by Marko, with the squad being split into two teams playing against G7 (made up of players from Heriots rugby club, Scotland, who play in local premiership and local universities), Boroughmuir (a local Edinburgh team playing in Nat 1) and Pigbarians (an invitational charity team), who provided a very good level of competition for the Cyprus players.
Across all the games played, the Cyprus players acquitted themselves well, putting into practice what had been learned on the training ground. This also included some new moves which were well executed.
Building Momentum for Future Championships
“Following the Rugby Europe competition in Montenegro last year, this camp has just helped to cement the chemistry and energy in the Cyprus 7s squad. Looking at last GSSE I feel like this squad and the organisation has fixed all our errors and put us in a great position to perform in May.”
- Angelo Lianos
“This has been my first involvement in the 7s setup since my 15s debut in May 2023. The energy and excitement in the squad for this big year of competition is 100% there. I can’t wait to see what we achieve!!”
- Alex Georgiou
“Firstly I want to say a big thank you to all the players and staff for everything over this weekend. The focus, the buy in, attention and physical efforts towards accomplishing and building towards the future has been top tier. We as coaches cannot praise the players and their efforts enough. I am looking forward to seeing this group grow and develop together so that we can peak for the two Championships we are aiming for this summer.”
- Marko Mladenovic, Cyprus 7s Coach
Overall, it was a satisfying end to a very successful and productive weekend. Following the training camp and matches, the players did a ‘hot debrief’ to discuss how things had gone both at the training camp, on the pitch and over the past year since Montenegro.
All the players were all given specific feedback from the coaches, on aspects to work on and areas of fitness to improve. A more detailed debrief will be conducted by the coaches and an enhanced training plan will be pushed out to the squad to ensure that Cyprus Rugby 7s is in the best position possible to put our best foot forward at the GSSE and Rugby Europe 7s Conference 1 Championships in 2025.
Written by Dave Lee, Team Manager
