It was a fantastic weekend of competition at the World Schools Sevens at the Pakuranga Rugby Club over the weekend.
There was perfect weather and a huge turn-out with an estimated 5500-6000 people at the event on Saturday and 3500-4000 on Sunday.
NZ Condors boys and girls won their cup finals giving them back-to-back titles, having been the winners in 2020.
But both finals were contested by new teams to the competition with Central Storm (girls) and NZ Asian Barbarians (boys), coached by NZ Sevens coaching legend Sir Gordon Tietjens, making an appearance, showing the increasing spread of teams interested and the growing talent pool.
All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens coaches were observing on Sunday, along with other talent ID people, demonstrating the importance of the event as a showcase of rugby’s next generation.
The DJ Forbes-coached [Forbes is a former All Blacks Sevens captain] NZ Warriors Academy team did themselves proud putting on several promising performances, especially given they only assembled 10 days ago, many learning the art of sevens for the first time.
Results were:
GIRLS
Girls Bowl Final
Samoa Barbarians 30 – TBR Heilala 12
Girls Plate Final
Niue Fiti Pua 7 – Cook Islands 34
3rd/4th Playoff
NZ Cavaliers 24 – NZ Barbarians 17
Girls Cup Final
Central Storm 0 – NZ Condors 22
RSM New Zealand Tournament MVP: Reece Anderson (Cook Islands)
BOYS
Boys Bowl Final
Cook Islands 24 – NZ Niue 10
Boys Plate Final
NZ Cavaliers 7 – NZ Barbarians 0
Boys Cup Final
Asian Dragons 12 – NZ Condors 36
RSM New Zealand Boys Tournament MVP – Cooper Flanders (NZ Condors)
