MMU 1st Year Picked for England Universities Rugby 7s

Archie Kellett is a 1st Year student at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) who was recently picked to play for England Universities 7s Rugby team in Three Fold National Cup at the Bournemouth 7s festival this weekend.

Bournemouth 7s is the UK’s largest rugby 7s festival, and Archie is one of 12 students, hand-picked by English Universities Sport (EUS) out of every 7s-playing university in England, travelling to compete.

This is a massive achievement for a young, aspiring player.

Archie was obviously delighted to hear the good news, as this is a big step forward in his sporting career; "I think it’s every rugby lad’s dream to play rugby and when you’re younger, you look at it like ‘that’s all I want to do’.”

That’s not to say Archie isn't anxious about playing in the big leagues, and he knows he’ll likely be one of the smaller and more inexperienced players on the pitch.

When asked about his past 7s experience he said: "Really not much, probably a few games at high school which was a while ago. And then when I was at Sale we’d do 7s in training to improve your skills and fitness, but really not too much. It was really good to get some experience before Bournemouth under my belt.”

I think it’s every rugby lad’s dream to play rugby and when you’re younger, you look at it like ‘that’s all I want to do’

Sale Sharks are Manchester’s premiership rugby team, and MMU work closely with them in recruiting players, like Archie, seeking a career in professional rugby.

Though not much, his previous experience in 7s has taught him a lot about his role in the team and what’ll be expected of him this weekend; “you’ve just got to be there and not let your quality drop, especially at the level it’ll be at at Bournemouth, it’ll be really competitive but I don’t want to not show up; I’m there for a reason.”

And that reason is to prove to himself and everyone watching that he deserves a long-term place in the professional rugby scene.