St Pat's Town and St Mary's College win boys and girls Condor 7s qualifiers

UPDATED: St. Pats Town have retained the Christian Cullen Cup Wellington Secondary Schools’ Sevens Championship, beating St Pat's Silverstream 19-7 in the final this afternoon at Naenae College.

St Pat’s Town and St Pat's Silverstream will represent Wellington at the 30th National Condor 7s tournament being staged at Sacred Heart College in Auckland from December 2-4.

St Mary’s College won the inaugural Kat Whata-Simpkins Trophy, beating Aotea College 42-5 in the final and they will represent Wellington in the girls section in Auckland for the second successive year. 

The boys final was a dour Dooley arm wrestle won fairly comfortably by Town. Town was able to control possession for long periods with careful passing and deliberate build ups. Speedster Sosaia Paese gassed away for the first try and El Nino Peniamina hit a beautiful short ball to collect a second before the interval.

Silverstream threatened to rally when they secured a tighthead and Albert Polu raced away to close the deficit to 12-7, but Town's conformational defense proved telling. The diminutive Cullen Dexter was trapped inside his own 22 by the feverish Xavier English. Town won a turnover and NZ Schools prop Xavier Numia barged over for the winner.

The girls final was closer than the score suggests, St Mary's pulling clear of Aotea late in the first half with their second runaway try of the half to take a 21-5 lead into the turnaround.

Aotea College put pressure on the St Mary's try-line early in the second half, but a turnover on their own chalk and a 100-metre breakout try to Dhys Faleafaga effectively sealed the match. Dhys scored a hat-trick in the final (Updated, previously reported as her sister Lyric.)

St. Pats Silverstream beat Scots College in extra time 10-5 in the first boys Cup semi-final. In a torrid and error ridden affair, Silverstream led 5-0 at the interval following a Scott Svenson try. Mitchell Bull-Elvines went close as well when he surged 50-metres down the touchline, three times being tackled, placing the ball and driving again.

The second-half lagged until Scots Tai Neli scorched 45-metres to tie the scores with a minute left. Malo Manuao narrowly missed the conversion attempt from touch, but ripped the ball from the last scrum in regulation time presenting Scots with one last chance to win the game. Neli broke again and linked with Garden-Bachop who was ankle-tapped into touch by the diminutive Cullen Dexter agonisingly short. Dexter would prove to be a hero for Stream. In extra time he jolted the ball free from Manuao's grasp when the former nearly slipped into hole. From the scrum pint-sized Lucas Dutton scurried free and was tackled 10-metres short of the line. Dutton kept the ball alive for Kienan Higgins who juggled and deflected onto to Dexter to touchdown.

In the second Cup semi-final, St Pat's Town made sure of their 26-0 victory over Bishop Viard College by applying a heap of early pressure and converting that into two converted tries and a 14-0 halftime advantage.

Playmaker Billy Proctor was sin-binned late in the first half, but he returned in the second spell to set up their third and match-winning try that was scored by Sam Baylis. Grayson Whitman made a blindside break from a scrum to seal St Pat's Town's semi-final victory.

Upper Hutt College won a thrilling Plate final, scoring the winning try with the last play of the game to take a 22-19 victory over St Pat's Town B.

Earlier in boys pool play there were several one-sided matches with predictable outcomes. Silverstream and Town cantered into the final four, but there was an upset when Rongotai lost controversially to Bishop Viard 14-12. Rongotai had a conversion on fulltime to tie the game and would have advanced had it had gone over. The kicked missed, but Rongotai claimed it was successful. On Field two the goal posts where considerably shorter than those on field one. However Rongotai had four yellow cards in two games so discipline wasn't a strong suite.

Meanwhile the Scots v Wellington match was a knockout affair. St. Pats Town B and Heretunga College, with a selection of HIBS and St. Bernard's boys, were classified as composite teams meaning they were illegible to qualify for the finals of the main draw. Wellington edged ahead 19-14 after Connor Garden-Bachop was sin-binned and Tom Hoskin and Tom Branley scored eye-catching tries. When Garden-Bachop returned the NZ Barbarian showed his quality when he scored his second try and converted to give Scots a narrow 21-19 win.

Some of the players to really excel throughout the boys tourney were Josh Morgan-Rauni (Wellington College), Paese, English and Procter from Town, Garden-Bachop and Manuao from Scots. Dexter, Polu and Fritz Rayasi from Silverstream. Brothers Roy and Tom Maiava from Bishop Viard College, Brayden Knight from Heretunga, Jason Tuitama from Rongotai College and Gregory Te Kura from Upper Hutt College who bagged two tries in the Plate final.

Results

Results and scores below are unofficial.

Pool results:

Boys
Aotea College 27 - Wainuiomata High School 5
Wellington College 36 - Heretaunga College 7
St Pat’s Silverstream 54 - Hutt Valley High School 0
Scots College 45 - St Pat’s Town B 0
St Pat’s Town A 34 - Naenae College 0
Bishop Viard College 35 - Upper Hutt College 0
Rongotai College 32 - Taita College 10
Aotea College 34 - Hutt Valley High School 26
Scots College 43 - Heretaunga College 0
Rongotai College 52 - Upper Hutt College 0
St Pat’sTown A 38 - Hutt Valley High School 0
Naenae College 24 -  Wainuiomata High School 10
Bishop Viard College 22 - Taita College 19
Scots College 21 - Wellington College 19
St Pat’s Silverstream 33 - Wainuiomata High School 0
Bishop Viard College 14 -  Rongotai College 12

Girls
Wellington East Girls’ College 21 - St Catherine’s College 12
Aotea College 15 - Taita College 7
St Mary's College 54 - Wainuiomata High School 0
Aotea College 27- Wellington East Girls’ College 0
St Mary’s College 49- Taita College 0
St Catherine's College 36 - Wainuiomata High School 7
Aotea College 29 - Wainuiomata High School 0
St Mary’s College 46 - Wellington East Girls’ College 0
St Catherine’s College 34- Taita College 7

Pool winners:

Boys
Pool A: St Pat's Town
Pool B: St Pat's Silverstream
Pool C: Scots College
Pool D: Bishop Viard College

Girls
Pool A: St Mary's College
Pool B: Aotea College

Crossover results:

Boys Plate Semi-finals
Taita College St Pat's Town B
Upper Hutt College Hutt Valley High School

Boys Cup Semi-finals
St Pat's Town 26 Bishop Viard College 0
St Pat's Silverstream 10 Scots College 5 (St Pat's Silverstream advanced in extra time)

Boys Bowl Semi-finals
Rongotai College 31 Aotea College 5
Wellington College 17 Naenae College 15

Boys Plate Final
Upper Hutt College 22 St Pat's Town B 19

Boys Bowl Final
Rongotai College 24 v Wellington College 7

Girls Semi-finals
St Mary's College 31 Wellington East Girls' College 7
Aotea College 33 St Catherine's College 12

Boys 13th/14th match
Heretaunga College 40 Wainuiomata High School 5

Girls Plate Final
Wainuiomata High School 21 Taita College 14

Girls Cup Final
St Mary's College 42 - Aotea College 5

Boys Cup Final
St Pat's Town 19 - St Pat's Silverstream 7