YORK Rugby Union Club supporters' group the Quality Street Gang are in Sevens' heaven.

The side has won the International Social section of the prestigious Dubai Sevens.

The York-based squad were beaten in last year's final and vowed to return to the United Arab Emirates to go one better this year.

They proved as good as their word, sweeping aside the opposition with Australian superstar Joe Roff a late inclusion in their ranks.

In the final they thrashed Bundy Bears, an Oxford University side with a strong Aussie influence, 35-5 in front of a 15,000 crowd.

Roff, who played in the Australian team beaten at Twickenham by England, flew out to join the QSG after they had beaten Hindostan Ba-Bas 58-0, Buccaneers 69-0 and Scottish side Currie Heat 49-5.

World Cup winner Roff, 25, last played sevens in Hong Kong in 1995 and made an immediate impact, playing in the unaccustomed role of prop.

The ACT Brumbies ace said: "The weather was hotter than I expected but the Dubai Sevens has a great atmosphere and I really enjoyed the experience."

Roff went straight into the QSG's quarter-final against HMS Cumber-land, who were soundly beaten 60-0.

In the semi-final, Christina Nobel, a side put together to raise funds for a children's charity of that name, were beaten 33-10.

The QSG ran in 50 tries during the competition with leading try scorer being former Harrogate player Marcus Smith, who now play in the Middle East with Dubai Exiles.

The strong QSG outfit was skippered by Jeff Alexander (Esher) and included former British Lion Peter Winterbottom (Harlequins and Eng-and), who is a QSG regular.

The rest of the playing party was Rob Glennister (Harlequins and England 'A'), Mark Calderwood (Leeds Rhinos RL Academy), James Tiffany (Leeds Tykes Academy), Simon Mills (Esher and England Under 21), Everton Davis (Harle-quins and Eng-land), Aaron Canning (Halifax) and J P O'Reilly (Leic-ester).

QSG chairman Ricky Richardson said: "We are already planning to defend our title."

The team manager was Micky Negri, former team manager of York RUFC's first team, and Richard Wood, a familiar face at the club's Clifton Park headquarters, was tour manager.

The main tournament was won by New Zealand who hammered Fiji, surprise 31-12 semi-final victors over Australia, in the Emirates Trophy final.

Roff's performance for the QSG was watched by Australia's sevens coach, Glen Ella, and the player is hoping his free-flowing displays will have put him in the minds of the national selectors who will soon be putting their side together for the World Cup Sevens in Argentina in January.

Roff is not part of the Australian sevens team as he is contracted only for the 15-a-side version of the game but has expressed a desire to play in the World Cup.