The founder of Red Panda 7s believes his side have what it takes to win the Secure Trading 24/Sevens northern regional play-off finals.

The Pandas came out on top in the tournament at East Tarleton rugby club in the Skofic Sevens competition on June 3 as part of the nationwide tournament.

The Secure Trading 24/Sevens competition, run by the RFU, is a community sevens series which sees the country’s best amateur teams competing across qualifying events followed by four regional competitions.

The side, who were tournament finalists last year, will head to Leeds on July 15, where they will play for the chance of glory at West Park with a place in the grand final two weeks later up for grabs.

And founder Max Ashcroft said: “The lads have been there before, they’ll know what to expect and I’m sure it will be a very good day out for sure.

“We’ll put in a very strong team and we expect to come out on top.”

As competition regulars, Ashcroft says his side have nothing but respect for the Secure Trading 24/Sevens tournament and highlighted it as a prime opportunity to blood young players.

He said: “We’ve been supporting the tournament since it started; it’s a tournament very close to our hearts - it’s very well-run and gets the community involved.

“We always try to put a strong team in but we also try to look at development players as well and put in a north-west team. We look at universities students and national league teams and sixth-form colleges in the north-west – that’s where our player pool comes from.

“We get the lads an opportunity to perform and showcase their talents. The weather was perfect, the conditions were good, the pitch was great for the lads to showcase their talents, which they did.”

Citing the importance of a playing in a professional environment, Ashcroft also paid tribute to the side’s charity partner – Tom’s Trust – as well as the Red Panda 7s coaching team, including head coach Rob Jones, assistant coach Chris Gemmell and kit designer Max Skofic.

He added: “I think if you want to perform at this sort of sevens circuit in the UK, you need to treat it like a professional outfit. The lads will act a lot better if you’ve got your physios, your coaches – they’re going to take it more seriously.

“There’s a fine line between the social side of sevens and the elite and it’s just about getting the balance right.”

Secure Trading 24/Sevens, is an exciting grassroots sevens competition run by England Rugby. The competition is open for all clubs and players, new and existing to enter, with local qualifiers taking place in 38 locations nationwide this summer. Visitwww.englandrugby.com/24sevens to get involved.