Scots runners-up at Condor Sevens; Silverstream and Wellington East win Plate finals

Rotorua Boys' High School are the new Condor Sevens champions with a 33-19 win over Wellington 1st XV champions Scots College in the Cup final at Kelston Boys' High School in Auckland.

The win is the first for Rotorua in the 28th year history of the tournament and spoilt any opportunity Scots had, as runners-up for the second year in a row.

Scots College reached the final with Cup quarter-final and semi-final wins over Feilding High School 20-12 and Hamilton Boys’ High School 22-19 respectively.

Wellington’s other boy’s school at the tournament, St Pat’s Silverstream, finished fifth after missing out to Hamilton 22-5 in their Cup quarter-final match earlier in the day.

St Pat’s Silverstream then went on to beat Feilding High School 27-26 in a thriller in their Plate semi-final, before beating New Plymouth’s Francis Douglas Memorial College 29-5 to take out the Plate final. Salesi Rayasi scored four tries in the Plate final win over FDMC. ?

Wellington players to make the 12-strong Boys tournament team were: Salesi Rayasi (St Patrick's College, Silverstream), TJ Va'a (Scot's College), Connor Garden-Bachop (Scot's College) and Peter Umaga-Jensen (Scot's College).

Wellington East Girls’ College started the second day with a 26-7 defeat to Bay of Plenty’s Opotiki College in their Girls Cup quarterfinal match.

Wellington East then went on to win the Girls Plate division, beating Fairfield College 24-7 in their Plate semi-final and then Kaipara College 7-5 in their Plate final, emulating St Pat’s Silverstream by coming away with fifth place.

In the Cup final, Scots College were behind three tries to nil, 21-0, after just a few minutes and were unable to comeback from this early onslaught.

Rotorua had the ball deep in their own half from the kick-off and a gap opened up to allow Damien Darlington to run 70 metres to score early.?

The score stretched out to 14-0 after another Rotorua try as Scots College forced an error, but try number three came shortly after to Rotorua as Ngarohi McGarvey-Black claimed an intercept for the score to stretch out to an unbelievable 21-0 within the first 4 minutes of the contest.

Scots enjoyed some ball inside their own half, unable to get over the halfway line at the time. TJ Va'a broke through a gap after a missed tackle by Rotorua and then passed on his outside to Connor Garden-Bachop hitting the ball at speed to scamper through under the posts.

After a massive fend on the right hand side of the field to Rotorua, Scots forced the ball into touch and Rotorua led at halftime 21-7.

Rotorua forced an error at the kick off with Scots enjoying some early ball in the second half but thanks to great defensive work by Rotorua they got the ball back again.

After surveying the options captain and eventual Player of the Tournament Issac Te Aute found the gap, broke through the tackle and score under the bar to stretch the lead out to 28-7.

Big man Alex Fidow broke through several tackles to give Scots another attacking opportunity with 135 kg bumping off Rotorua's players.

The touchline then won the race on the left hand side for Scots as Rotorua got the ball back in ttheir own half. As the ball spilled out from the back of the breakdown, Va'a scored his second try after quick reactions allowed him to dive on the ball. Va'a then slotted his own conversion for the 28-14 scoreline.

Immediately from the kick off Rotorua's McGarvey-Black scored his second try after busting through the defence with a left foot step and ran 60 metres to seal the victory for the Bay of Plenty high school.

Scots College had the final say in the match with a try in the corner to Malo Manuo with Va'a spraying the conversion across the front of the posts, but the game had already been won.

Rotorua's ability to stay calm and back themselves has been a telling point all tournament. Emotional Rotorua players flooded the field in celebration in a massive victory.

Rotorua had previously beaten Auckland champions Otahuhu College 22-14 in their Cup semi-final match.

In the girl's division Hamilton Girls' High School have backed up their 2013 campaign with their second consecutive victory over Southland Girls' High School in an entertaining match, winning the Cup final 14-12.