The 2018/19 summer of sevens rugby kicks off this weekend with the first of several tournaments in Wellington between now and the rest of the year, with the Tawa Invitational 7s taking place at Lyndhurst Park from early in the morning to late afternoon.
Twelve teams in two divisions are set to take part in the Tawa Invitational 7s tournament. There are two men’s pools of four teams each and a four-team college-aged pool. These are:
The Tawa tournament is an officially sanctioned WRFU event, with WRRA match officials on hand helping to run the event smoothly. The first match is at 9.00am and the Cup final is set to go at 4.12pm.
It is a warm-up event to some big weekends coming up on the sevens circuit, with the three-week WRFU American Ambassador’s series and the Condor Sevens secondary school tournament qualifiers just around the corner.
The first leg of the American Ambassador’s series is at Maoribank Park next weekend, followed by leg two on 27 October at Onepoto Park and leg three on 3 November at Mary Crowther Park.
The winner of the American Ambassador’s series receives an invite to compete at the National Club Sevens tournament hosted by the Eden RFC in Auckland in the New Year.
The annual Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council (HYRC) Sevens tournament is also next Saturday, 13 October, in Masterton.
As per tradition, the Wellington and Wairarapa region Condor Sevens qualifying tournanent is at Naenae College on Labour Day Monday, which is 22 October this year.
Several local teams will then be heading up to the Hawke’s Bay to compete in the Napier Old Boys Marist tournament on Saturday 17 November.
This is followed by the Piri Weepu Sevens tournament hosted by the Wainuiomata Rugby Football Club at Wise Park on Saturday 24 November.
The National Provincial Sevens tournament has been brought forward from its traditional January slot to the weekend of 15 and 16 December.
It is understood that the provincial regional qualifiers will be held two weeks before nationals, so based on last year that would be on Saturday 1 December at Levin.
The National Condor Sevens is being held at Sacred Heart College, Auckland, from 29 November to 2 December.
Moving into the new year, the Central Hawke’s Bay Rugby and Sports Club are seeking expressions of interest for entries to the Central Sevens in Waipukurau on 16 February. Email chbrugbyandsports@gmail.com for more.
9.00am: Upper Hutt Rams v MSP Red
9.18am: Northern United v Wellington Axemen
9.36am: Johnsonville v Tawa
9.54am: MSP White v OBU
10.12am: St Pat’s Town v Tawa College
10.30am: Upper Hutt Rams v Johnsonville
10.48am: Northern United v MSP White
11.06am: Aotea College v St Pat’s Silverstream
11.24am: Tawa v MSP Red
11.42am: OBU v Wellington Axemen
12.00pm: St Pat’s Town v Aotea College
12.18pm: Upper Hutt Rams v Tawa
12.36pm: Northern United v OBU
12.54pm: St Pat’s Silverstream v Tawa College
1.12pm: Johnsonville v MSP Red
1.30pm: MSP White v Wellington Axemen
1.48pm: St Pat’s Town v St Pat’s Silverstream
2.06pm: Winner Pool A vs 2nd Pool A Cup Semi-final 1
2.24pm: College pool 2v4 Aotea College vs Tawa
2.42pm: 3rd Place Pool B vs 4th Place Pool A Plate Semi-final 1
3.00pm: 3rd place Pool A vs 4th Place Pool B Plate Semi-final 2
3.18pm: Winner Pool B vs 2nd Pool A Cup Semi-final 1
3.36pm: College 1st placing vs College 2nd Placing College Final
3.54pm: Winner Game 20 vs Winner Game 21 Plate Final
4.12pm: Winner Game 18 vs Winner Game 22 Cup Final