Fancy a fun game of rugby this Friday evening?

If the answer is ‘yes’, then get yourself over to the Newlands in Bishop’s Cleeve, the home of Cheltenham Rugby Club, at 6.30pm for a quickfire game of 7’s – the action lasts from 7-8pm – where the emphasis is very much on having fun.

Called XRugby 7’s, the event has been organised by the Gloucestershire RFU with the hope that it will entice more people to play the great game that is rugby.

“We’re trying to encourage a new format of the game,” said Simon Martin, a Gloucestershire RFU community coach and coach developer who used to play for Bristol back in the day.

“Games will be played on half a pitch, will last 10 minutes and there will be no goalposts. And although we’re calling it 7’s, teams can be made up of five, seven or 10 players, it depends who turns up.”

And those aren’t the only differences from the traditional form of 7’s because teams can be made up of both men and women.

“It’s for anyone aged 18 or more,” continued Martin, a fly-half or centre who also played for Coventry and Pertemps Bees. “It can be contact or touch, we want to encourage anyone who fancies a runout to turn up on a Friday evening.

“We’re trying to build on 7’s but 7’s is played on a full pitch and is very demanding, not everyone can do that, that’s why we’re playing on half a pitch.

“Anyone who wants a bit of fun can turn up – men, women, veterans, people new to the game – we’re trying to increase the participation in rugby.”

A similar event is being organised at North Bristol Rugby Club on Friday – like Cheltenham they have an artificial grass pitch – and a Friday every month has been set aside for similar events at Newlands and North Bristol for the rest of the season.

Those Fridays are 20th December, 31st January, 28th February, 27th March and 24th April, and Martin added: “If it takes off we’ll continue running them in the summer.”

Anyone who wants more information can email simonmartin@rfu.com

XRugby 7’s ‘rules’

10-minute games
Contact or touch
Tries – max zone =7, outside =5
Tackles: Below armpit 1 v 1
Mauls: max 3 v 3
Ruck: max 2 v 2
All restarts: tap & play
Kicks: grubber only
Scrums: any 3 v 3, strike no push
Lineouts: any 3, only 2 can jump, no lift