With the 15-a-side season finally coming to a conclusion, South Wales’ premier 7s team, the Carmarthenshire Warriors, can at last look forward to the start of theirs.

This summer will mark the 15th season in their illustrious history

However, they have already been in action during the May Bank Holiday at the start of the month, as four Warriors were selected for a combined North/South Wales invitational team to play in one of Europe’s most recognised tournaments in Kinsale, Ireland.

Team manager Marcus Copeland selected Jason Howells (Narberth), Wayne Price (Swansea), Gareth James (Ystalyfera) and Tomi Jones (Narberth) in an strong squad which also featured England 7s star Mark Odejobi, Spain’s IRB 7s star Jaike Carter, and Leicester Tigers’ star man of last year’s Premiership 7s, Josh Fowles.

With such a strong squad, theE Welsh Warriors started as one of the pre-tournament favorites, but it took a few games to get into rhythm with a couple of wins and a loss in the seeding stage of the tournament on day one.

Gareth James suffered a muscle injury during the first warm up, but the seasoned 7s campaigner used his years of experience and knowledge to help call the shots from the touchline. Tomi Jones was named as skipper and as always he proved to be ever reliable, showing exceptional vision and solid defence. Howells and Price also showed some nice touches on day one and the Exiled Warriors were in confident mood going into the knockout stages.

Day two started brightly with a couple of wins – with Josh Fowles in particular showing a masterclass on how to play 7s, highlighting his potential as a future England IRB player. Wins came against the much fancied Irish Pacific Islanders, a team that contained a number of Samoans and New Zealanders, and established 7s team Red Panda. The Welsh made the final, playing against the much fancied Wild Geese, a team made up of Irish Premiership and regional players, also having the advantage of playing on home soil in front of a noisy partisan crowd.

The Welsh exiles started brightly with a couple of scores from their flying Lithuanian Jonas Miklaus, but the Geese then pulled a try back just before half time. The large partying crowd of over 4000 spectators were treated to a 7s masterclass from the Exiles with Tomi Jones demonstrating superb skill to roll out of two would be tacklers before performing a 180 degree spin and delivering a perfect 30m back handed pass to Miklaus, who cantered into the corner. James introduced Howells and Price into the fore in the second half and Howells used his strength to steamroll his way through the defensive line before linking with Price, who danced his way around two defenders before unselfishly offloading to Odejobi to dive between the sticks. The sun started to shine for the first time over the whole weekend and the Exiled Welsh Warriors were crowned the 2015 Elite Tournament Champions.

Skipper Tomi Jones who was in the run-in for the player of the tournament award, said: “It has been a fantastic weekend, the standard was extremely high and I’d like to thank the Irish fans for their vocal support throughout the weekend.

“This is a personal highlight for me and I’m proud of my fellow players for helping bring a Welsh Elite Invitational 7s team to the fore. Tonight will undoubtedly be a night to remember!”

With that win under their belts, the Warriors quartet head back to the mainland this weekend to launch another attempt to clinch the coveted ‘Elite’ trophy at Bournemouth.

They’ll be joined by the likes of Owain Morgan (Llanelli) Jack Maynard (Bedwas), Tom Rees (Llandybie), and Scott Gibson (Cwmllynfell).

In a packed weekend another Warriors side will head west to Newport Pembrokeshire to try and reclaim the trophy there. The popular tournament is also celebrating an anniversary in 2015 – it’s 30th. Viv Jenkins (Newcastle Emlyn) will lead the side.

The biggest milestone of this weekend and a key one in the Warriors 15 year history will be the first appearance for newly formed Legends Over 35’s side.

Months of hard work and organization for Warriors founder Arwel Davies, will hopefully bear fruit at the Flanders 10’s Tournament. A traveling party of around 30 players and support staff will make the journey to Belgium on Thursday.

The Legends will pay their respects to the Warriors of the Great War at the Langemark Memorial near Passchendale; before moving on to contest the two-day tournament at Dendermonde.

With a strong squad signed up, Davies is confident the side can return successful.

In recognition of 15 years of Warriors Rugby along with the formation of the new ‘Vets’ side, any prize money won will be donated to the Clic Sargent Children’s Cancer Charity.