Wellington Men’s Sevens team defend Auckland tournament crown

The Wellington Men’s Sevens team has defended its Auckland 7s tournament title at the fifth annual tournament this weekend played on the North Shore.

Wellington won five of six matches and drew the other. They beat Counties Manukau in this afternoon’s Cup final and won 17-7.

For Wellington, Jordan Simpson-Hefft and Murphy Taramai scored first half tries in the Cup final. Taramai soared high from a kick-off and sprinted away to give Wellington a 12-7 halftime lead. Piri Paraone scored the only try of the second half of the final.

Lise Soloa was named Player of the Tournament.

Wellington beat North Harbour club team Northcote 21-10 in their quarter-final this morning, before beating Waikato 19-12 in their mid-afternoon Cup semi-final. The semi-final against Waikato was a replay of January’s national provincial tournament final, although both teams fielded almost entirely different squads.

Day one on Saturday was played in windy and later wet conditions. Wellington recorded wins over North Harbour RFC 33-5 and Auckland 24-0, before drawing with Counties Manukau 7-7 as the heavy rain arrived.

Auckland won the Women’s section of the tournament. Wellington went one better than last year in finishing third.

Lizzie Goulden was Player of the Tournament in the women’s section.

The Ponsonby Geldings club side won the President’s section. 

Sir Gordon Tietjens was on hand to watch the tournament on the first day.

The next tournament on the calendar is the Piri Weepu Sevens tournament at William Jones Park next Saturday. Last year the Wellington team won this tournament, but are not entering this year.

The three regional qualifiers for the National 7s in Rotorua are being played in Timaru (Southern) on 28 November, and Levin (Central) and Cambridge (Northern) a fortnight later on 12/13 December.