Life’s a beach as Flamingoes shine in sun (From South Wales Guardian)

Life’s a beach as Flamingoes shine in sun

1:00pm Thursday 17th May 2012 in Sport

THE OLORUN Flamingoes invitational 7s team linked to the Carmarthen Warriors headed for the sun on May 5 to play in one of Europe’s largest beach rugby competitions, the 2012 Majorca Beach tournament.

The Flamingoes cruised through the pool stages with Deian Thomas and Richard Davies prominent and progressed to the knockout stages where they faced a Leicester-based team, including ex- England scrum half Harry Ellis, in the quarters.

The Flamingoes ran in some excellent tries from Jason Howells, Andrew Jones, Davies, Thomas and Ammanford-based Wayne Price to beat the Englishmen 6-3 and claim a semi-final spot against a rugby league outfit The Bulldogs.

Some sublime offloading and a solid defence saw the Flamingoes claim and early three-try lead before The Bulldogs scored two tries to ensure a tense final few minutes.

With the final whistle looming, skipper Price went on a barnstorming run before offloading to Howells for the try of the tournament.

The Flamingoes faced the Staffordshire Penguins in the final and the 27-degree Mediterranean heat took its toll on both sides, but the Penguins started brightly in front of a large crowd and TV crews with a good first try.

The Flamingoes used Alun Davies as an impact player but a moment of madness from the destructive prop saw him receive a yellow card and two minutes in the sinbin.

But resilient Flamingoes defence held out before Andrew Jones and Price combined to send Deian Thomas in at the corner.

The Flamingoes’ superior fitness saw them run in more tries to ensure they went one better than the previous year to be crowned 2012 Majorca Beach Rugby champions.

Skipper Price said: “The boys have shown superb dedication both on and off the pitch this weekend.

It was an extremely physical couple of days and the overall standard of the competition was far better than last year so to win this tournament in such fashion was extremely pleasing.”

The Flamingoes head to cooler climes at the weekend when they take part in the Manchester 7s.