Blakely puts away the axe,
Denton Wilde Sapte A surprisingly find themselves near the foot of the table after a disastrous start. We lost our first two games rather convincingly for a variety of reasons, but we remain optimistic, having accumulated four points from our last two games to take us off the bottom of the table. Steven Blakely, managing partner (strategic initiatives), said he had been sharpening the axe but had put it back in the cabinet. To be honest, I would have been more worried if he said he had every confidence in my managerial skills. The First Division is wide open this season and lots of teams are capable of winning the championship. Linklaters and Lovells are joint leaders with Clifford Chance and Nabarro Nathanson in hot pursuit behind them. Anthony Barness
of Linklaters says their form can be put down to the fact that he has more players to choose from.
Neil Bailey of Lovells is delighted with his team’s start to the season, which has included important victories over Slaughter and May and Clifford Chance.
Freshfields win again, and again…
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer beat Herbert Smith 17-5 in the Taylor Root Law Society Rugby Sevens at Richmond Athletics Club last week. The team, led by corporate solicitor David Gilbert, scored 168 points throughout the competition, conceding just three tries. Freshfields has won the trophy a record 11 times, starting rumours that the firm looks favourably on rugby Blues when recruiting trainees.
Taylor Joynson Garrett managed to succeed in scoring no points throughout the tournament, suggesting the firm prefers scholars. Scrum half Patrick Ko,
a Freshfields’ corporate solicitor, denied that the team had been in extensive training. “We had a couple of touch-rugby sessions in the park after work,” he said. “It was great fun.”
However, Legal Week understands that the Freshfields players were subject to a gruelling physical fitness regime and were banned from playing in other games prior to the competition for fear of injury.
The Law Society RFC won the Plate Final, a competition consisting of the 16 teams knocked out in the first round. They beat Linklaters & Alliance 19-12. The team, led by Wedlake Bell private client partner Peter Watts, cannot be accused of taking the game too seriously. During the first match they started out with a team of three.
This is the 25th year of the competition, which rivals the City Sevens tournament. More than 3,500 spectators and 32 teams turned up for the event, which was in aid of the Wooden Spoon Society, a rugby charity.
