Somewhat disappointing news of law firms' performance in the recent City Sevens rugby competition. Only two firms - Denton Wilde Sapte and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer - made it as far as the quarter-finals. Dentons (pictured below in the orange shirts) lost 17-12 to the eventual winners Savills, demonstrating that those in the property industry clearly don't have sufficiently demanding annual billable hours targets, while Freshfields were beaten by Deutsche Bank 24-5. Meanwhile, Slaughter and May fought their way through to the plate final, where they lost to the bankers at BNP Paribas 29-7. Other firms to enter teams in the City Sevens, which raised thousands of pounds for the SPARKS charity, included Ashurst, Allen & Overy, CMS Cameron McKenna and Lovells. Sadly, only two law firms have won in the entire 32-year history of the event - Allen & Overy in 1981 and Freshfields more recently in 2000. Obiter feels it's about time senior management at the top firms invested more time and effort into winning the competition, starting with the next trainee recruitment round. World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson retired from professional rugby at the weekend - a well-timed training contract on his doormat may be a judicious move.