7:00am Monday 25th May 2009
By Ian Wadley
BRENDON Daniel led Oakmeadians to a thrilling Bournemouth Sevens triumph and then revealed that he could ply his trade with the club next term.
The former Bath and New Zealand sevens star played a key role as Oaks avenged last season’s South West Cup final defeat to Bournemouth by shocking the Lions at Chapel Gate yesterday.
In a fitting finale to another successful festival, Oaks claimed the South of England Cup honours with an exciting 26-24 victory over their fierce rivals.
And after catching his breath following the last-gasp win, Daniel admitted he thought Oaks had lost it.
The large crowd were treated to a fine show of rugby and it looked as if the host club would again claim the local bragging rights when they scored with six seconds remaining to take a 24-21 lead.
But James Croker’s Oaks, whose tries came from Malakai Magnus (2), Junior Korobaiu and Angelo Flammia, hit back to score with the last act of added time.
A delighted Daniel said: “We tried to implement a system which was easy to play, considering it was a group of players who’d never played together before.
“We lost to Bournemouth in our second group game and they were a lot more physical than us and we had to see what we could do to counteract that in the final.
“I used to play on the wing when I was in the Premiership and when I played New |Zealand sevens but I found myself in the forwards being one of the bigger lads.
“But it worked out well. It’s great for Oakmeadians as a club and probably for the town in general to rekindle that rivalry with Bournemouth.”
The Kiwi added: “My girlfriend is studying up in Newcastle so my priority is her, but I haven’t had a contract sorted out in Newcastle.
“If that’s not possible then I’ll definitely look at coming down and playing for Oaks.”
Meanwhile, Oaks Ladies were beaten by the Moody Cows in the semi-final of the National Ladies’ Cup.
Swanage & Wareham lost in the quarter-finals of the South of England Cup.
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