American Ambassador Sevens Series starts this weekend

Above: Action from the Sevens at the Polo Ground before the tournament got cancelled. Photo courtesy of: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oriental-Rongotai-Rugby-Club?

UPDATE MONDAY: The first leg of the tournament was cancelled on Saturday on account of atrocious conditions that swept through early in the afternoon and didn't let up.

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The club rugby focus now turns to the Sevens game in Wellington, with the 2012 American Ambassador Sevens series starting at the Polo Ground this Saturday 8 September.

Three tournaments are scheduled over the next month. Oriental-Rongotai host the first round next Saturday, ahead of Upper Hutt hosting the second round at Maidstone Park on 22 September and Northern United at Porirua Park on 6 October.

Sixteen teams from most Wellington clubs, including two from some clubs, will fill the men’s draw, with Women’s and Colts sections also included. Teams will compete to take out each individual tournament with tournament points accumulating across all three to find an overall American Ambassador series winner.

With Sevens rugby now part of the Olympic programme, opportunities for young players to make their marks in Sevens Rugby are becoming more prominent.

“2011 saw the re-introduction of a serious Wellington provincial Sevens programme over the three tournament format to help WRFU Sevens Head Coach Earl Va'a identify and select talent for the New Year National Sevens in Queenstown,” explained Dave Meaclem who was Wellington Sevens Manager from 2001-2006, and was co-opted by the newly formed WRFU Sevens sub-committee in early 2011 to assist in putting back together a competitive club and provincial programme.

“There is a greater emphasis on these tournaments, especially for a goal orientated player who dreams of representing New Zealand at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. For a young player the pathway is transparent and uncluttered. Sevens specialists are being created and players with athleticism are at a distinct advantage.”

Meaclem was and still is heavily involved in the Oriental-Rongotai Sevens programme that has produced many notable players such as Roy Kinikinilau, Justin Wilson, Lote Raikabula, Ma’aNonu and more recently the Savea brothers, Julian and Ardie.

“The 2011/12 selections of ArdieSavea [now in the Ricoh Wellington Lions’ ITM Cup squad] and George Tilsley [now in Manawatu’s ITM Cup squad] in Gordon Titejens’? IRB World Series team and Belgium Tuatagaloa selected in the training squad are recent examples of young Wellington players coming through the ranks."

”In the early 2000s the then called Local Point Series was very competitive and was the arena in which several high profile players launchedsuccessful professional rugby careers. Scott Waldrom, TafaiIoasa, Tamati Ellison, Cory Jane, Victor Vito, Nigel Hunt, Roy Kinikinilau, TuUmaga-Marshall, Rodney So'oialo, Justin Wilson, LoteRaikabula, RukiTipuna, LekaTupuola and Julian Savea all competed in this series.

Wellington won the National title in 2002 and were runners-up in 2006.

Meaclem said that there’s also a strong emphasis on the Colts and Women’s sections.?“With the very successful NZ Go4Gold programme run recently to identify Women athletes for the national team. No Wellington based woman made the initial New Zealand squad, however Shakira Baker from Ekatahuna who plays in the Wellington Premier competition did.”

New Zealand Rugby Union CEO Steve Tew recently echoed these sentiments on a popular radio show: "I don't think people in rugby around the world have yet quite understood what the introduction of rugby sevens into the Olympics is going to mean. I think it's going to be fantastic."

The series also provides pathways for young referees, such as James McPhail who is on the IRB referee’s panel and will be involved in all nine IRB Sevens World Cup tournaments in 2012/13, and Brigitte Tyler who in March aged 21 became the youngest female referee to officiate at an IRB tournament at the IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup in Hong Kong in March.

Background to the Ambassador’s Trophy and Local Point Sevens series

The American Ambassador’s Trophy was presented in 1967 by John F Henning who was US Ambassador to New Zealand in the 1960s. From 1967 until 1998 this tournament was held at Trentham Memorial Park on a Sunday in February as a precursor to the Regional Sevens held in Feilding inmid March, followed by the Sevens Nationals a week or two later which is now held in Queenstown.

Tony Meachen took over as Wellington Sevens Coach in 1998 with John Willis as Manager at a time when Wellington had slipped to the "B" division at the Nationals. In 1999 Meachen and Willis drove the formation of The Local Point Series(named after the chain of taverns/cafes/sports bars), played over three rounds and with points awarded in each round.

The Ambassador’s Trophy was still the premier trophy and won by the winner of the either the first or last round - meaning you could win the Local Point Series but not necessarily the Ambassador’s Trophy.The final of the? Ambassador’s Trophy was played as a curtain raiser to a ITM Cup match at Westpac Stadium for a number of years. In 2011 current American Ambassador David Huebner presented the WRFU with a new American Ambassador’s Trophy to replace the original one donated by his predecessor Henning.

Ories have been the dominant Sevens club in Wellington over the last 10 years, winning six Ambassador’s Trophy titles and six Local Point titles in this time including the last Local Point Tournament. Hutt Old Boys Marist, Northern United, Marist St. Pat’s, Old Boys University and recently Wainuiomata have also featured prominently in the Wellington Sevens scene with Wainuiomata being the defending American Ambassador Series champions.