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Open club Sevens tournament at Naenae College tomorrow

Sevens Rugby | 17 October 2014 | Steven White

Above: All Blacks Sevens player George Tilsley helping Tawa beat Poneke in the Men’s Cup final and winning this tournament last year.

Update: The Sevens rugby season gets underway in Wellington tomorrow with the first of two official Wellington Rugby Football Union club Sevens tournaments taking place at Naenae College.

Thirty three teams representing 13 clubs, four school teams, one representative squad and two Wellington Fiji sides are set down to be at the starting gates for tomorrow’s WRFU Open 7s Tournament. There will be Senior Men’s, Colts and Women’s divisions.

This event is the first of four local tournaments coming up of the next several weekends – followed by the Wellington and Wairarapa secondary schools Condor Sevens qualifying tournament being held at this same venue of Naenae College next Monday 27 October (Labour Day), the American Ambassador’s (AA) official WRFU senior club tournament at Evans Bay Park ?and St Pat’s Town Artificial on 1 November and the annual Piri Weepu Sevens at William Jones Park in Wainuiomata on 29 November.?

Tawa are the defending WRFU Open tournament Men’s champions, while the Wests Roosters and Norths won last year’s Colts and Women’s divisions respectively. Tawa and Norths are back tomorrow to defend their crowns.

Of the other clubs sides competing in the Men's division tomorrow, the defending AA champions Upper Hutt Rams – formerly Upper Hutt – line up tomorrow in the Men’s division alongside MSP, Wainuiomata, Hutt Old Boys Marist (two teams entered), Ories, Johnsonville (two teams), Old Boys University, Poneke and Avalon.

These club sides will be joined by the Wellington 7s team who will start favourites, ahead of their crossing of the Tasman later next week to contest the Central Coast Sevens as part of the build-up of their defence of their National title in Rotorua in early January 2015.

Two Wellington Fiji teams will contest the Men’s division and provide something of an unknown quantity. They should be strong though, a Fiji Warriors side took out last year’s inaugural Piri Weepu event beating WRFU in the final.?

The St Pat’s Town, St Pat’s Silverstream, Wellington College and Naenae College school sides will contest the Colts division, ahead of the secondary school Condor Sevens qualifying tournament at this same venue in nine days’ time, on Labour Day.?

The Men’s draw will consist of four Pools of four sides (16 teams), the Colts four Pools of three teams (12 teams) and there is one Women’s Pool (five teams).?

The first matches kick off at 9.00 am, with the knockout rounds scheduled to start at 1.32 pm and the Men’s Cup final at 5.00 pm.?

Teams and Pools for tomorrow (subject to change):

Men’s

Pool A: WRFU, Marist St Pat’s, Tawa, Wainuiomata

Pool B: Oriental-Rongotai, Hutt Old Boys Marist A, Wellington Fiji 2, Johnsonville 2

Pool C: Wellington Fiji 1, Johnsonville 1, Old Boys University, Wellington Axemen

Pool D: Upper Hutt Rams, Poneke, Hutt Old Boys Marist B, Avalon

Colts

Pool E: Old Boys University, Tawa, St Pat’s Town?

Pool F: Upper Hutt Rams, Poneke, St Pat’s Silverstream

Pool G: Hutt Old Boys Marist, Northern United, Naenae College

Pool H: Petone, Oriental-Rongotai/Wellington, Wellington College