Eden win National Club Sevens title

The Auckland club sevens champions Eden are now New Zealand’s champions.

The Eden sevens side have won the 2017 Middlesex County Wavell Wakefield Cup with a 26-7 win over North Harbour’s Massey in the Cup final played at a hot Collins Road in Hamilton this afternoon. Eden scored two converted tries and led 14-7 at halftime, pulling away in the second half.

Eden became the seventh winner of this tournament as many years and the first Auckland club to win since Pakuranga in 2013.

Next year’s tournament will be hosted at Eden, based at Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham near Eden Park, as their club name suggests.

Eden were deserved winners, playing through the tournament unbeaten with six wins. On day one they had beaten two-time Cup finalists the Upper Hutt Rams 28-12 first up and then had defeated Ardmore Marist 21-0 and Awanui 21-12 respectively.

Eden opened day two with a 26-5 Cup quarterfinal win over Hawke’s Bay challenger Napier Technical and then beat Auckland rivals Suburbs 28-10 in their Cup semi-final.

Beaten finalists Massey had day two wins over local team Hamilton Marist (21-17) in their quarterfinal and then the Upper Hutt Rams (24-7) in their semi-final.

Eden’s winning squad was: 1. Blake Hill, 2. Nick Perez, 3. Sam Livingston, 4. Nico Costa, 5. Rodrigo Costa, 6. Ignacio Costa 7. Jason Curran, 8. Mosese Pepa, 9. Simon Filemoni, 10. Olivier Roux, 11. Lucks Funaki, 12. Sione Katoa Non-playing Reserve: Tommy Nakajima/ Coach: Matt Lumsden.

2014 champions Rangataua of Bay of Plenty won the Plate – beating defending champions Melville in golden point extra time after scores were locked 12-12 at the end of regulation fulltime.

Earlier in the day, Rangataua had themselves lost their Cup quarterfinal to Suburbs by golden point after a 12-12 draw at the end of 14 minutes.

Northland’s Awanui captured the Bowl final, while the sole South Island side in the tournament, Geraldine, won the Shield.

Day two results (unofficial):

Cup quarterfinals
Upper Hutt Rams 17 - Melville 12
Eden 26 – Napier Tech 5
Massey 21 – Hamilton Marist 17
Suburbs 12 – Rangataua 12 (Suburbs advanced on golden point)

Bowl quarterfinals
Ardmore Marist 31 – Geraldine 0
Awanui 19 - Tauranga Sports 5
Melville Invitational 26 – Marist Old Boys 5
Linton 15 – Ngamatapouri 12

Shield semi-finals
Geraldine 19 – Marist Old Boys 17
Ngamatapouri 17 – Tauranga Sports 12

Bowl semi-finals 
Awanui 21 – Linton 7
Ardmore Marist 21 – Melville Invitational

Plate semi-finals 
Melville 12 – Hamilton Marist 5
Rangataua 22 – Napier Technical 15

Cup semi-finals
Massey 24 – Upper Hutt Rams 7
Eden 28 – Suburbs 10

Shield Final
Geraldine 14 – Ngamatapouri 5

Bowl Final
Awanui 17 – Ardmore Marist 12

Plate Final
Melville 12 – Rangataua 12 (Melville won on golden point)

Cup Final
Eden 26 – Massey 7