SNAP, craic and pop - the 45th John Smith's Good Friday Pocklington Sevens certainly had it all.

With plenty of food, top quality rugby action and enough beer to sink a brewery, spectators from across the country - and seemingly all of Pocklington - descended on Percy Road for the county's premier sevens tournament.

Even a 30-strong squad from Beckenham made a mad dash north, only to get caught on the A1 and arrive two minutes before their opening game - an unsurprising 38-0 defeat against Ipswich Exiles.

Such was the Kent side's luck the size of the defeat meant they didn't even qualify for the Plate competition and had to make do with spending the afternoon loitering around the Guinness Bar.

Such has been the success of the Good Friday festival -- a record crowd of over 2,500 passed through the gates for this year's event - other clubs are desperately trying to follow suit.

But try as they may, they will never surpass the original and this year's was among the best ever.

Superbly run and marshalled by the hard-working club volunteers, the tournament was a winner with one and all with the emphasis well and truly on the fun side rather than winning -- although I'm not sure whether Doncaster would quite agree.

Even the sides that were knocked out early on are winners with a crate of beer handed out to set them up for a hard afternoon.

The competition even had its fair share of upsets - with the highly-fancied Doncaster and Hull all-star sides falling before the final.

National Two outfit Doncaster, who included first-teamers such as Derek Eves, Lafaele Filipo and ex-Pock School pupil Richard Poskitt, beat Selby in the first round only to be toppled by Gary Pearce's Hull in the second.

However, any hopes Pearce had of avenging last season's final defeat against the Impalas were ended at the quarter-final stage as the surprise package of the Jaguars stole through.

There was no stopping the Army-backed Impalas, who were led by Charlie Karma, as they overcame the Jaguars - a game dubbed the Fiji derby because of the number of South Sea Islanders involved - and then local hopes Malton and Norton in the final.

In the Plate, Nottingham tourists Southwell took the honours, having toppled hosts Pocklington in the semis and then Knottingley in the final.

A special mention must go to the MC, Tim Slater, who was stuck in his little cabin all day as the matches and fine weather passed him by.

However, it didn't stop him remaining 'refreshed', although at one stage he did have to announce over the PA system: "Emergency! Emergency! Can someone please come to the announcer's hut... with two pints of Guinness!"

That seems an appropriate note on which to end this season's Scrum Down column. See you next season.

Updated: 12:03 Saturday, April 26, 2003