Fourth annual Piri Weepu 7s tournament tomorrow

Above: Scenes from last year’s Piri Weepu tournament, with men’s competition winners the Pacific Warriors and women’s division finalists WRFU and Northern United (inset).

It’s a smaller tournament this year, and the player it’s named after is himself involved in his London Welsh side’s clash with table-topping Northampton Saints in England on Monday (NZT) but tomorrow’s fourth annual Piri Weepu Invitational 7s tournament hosted by the Wainuiomata Rugby Football Club promises to be a fitting finale to a hurly-burly year of rugby in Wellington.

For the last local rugby event in 2014, fans can head along to Mary Crowther Park to watch the tournament which runs side-by-side on the two fields from 9.00 am to approximately 4.00 pm.

Eight men’s teams and four women’s teams are entered, with the men split into two pools of four and the women in one pool for the morning games. The afternoon session starting at 2.00 pm sees men’s competition Cup and Plate semi-finals and finals and women’s tournament semi-finals and a final.

The tournament is headlined by the Wellington Men’s and Women’s representative sides (WRFU teams) in their final hit-outs before next weekend’s central region National Sevens Qualifying tournament in Palmerston North.

It also features several Wellington club sides, Hawke’s Bay powerhouse club Havelock North (women’s team), the Horowhenua-Kapiti Men’s 7s squad and three invitational teams, the Pacific Warriors, Wellington Flyers and the Manawatu Fijians.

The Pacific Warriors are the defending champions, beating the Wests Roosters 45-36 in the 2013 Cup final after knocking out Wellington Men 17-14 in the semi-finals. Wellington Women beat Northern United 34-10 in the final of last year’s women’s division.

Xtreme Sportsgear NZ has come on board as a sponsor to help grow the tournament, providing dress gear for the tournament organisers, jerseys for the referees and a set of winners t-shirts for the tournament champions. The weather forecast is fine.

Pools:

Men’s Pool A: WRFU Men, Pacific Warriors, Horowhenua-Kapiti, Johnsonville

Men’s Pool B: Wainuiomata, Manawatu Fijians, Wellington Flyers, Marist St. Pat’s

Women’s Pool C: WRFU Women, Wainuiomata, Old Boys University, Havelock North

Schedule:

Men’s pool play between 9.00 am and 1.30 pm

Women’s pool play between 10.40 am and 12.50 pm

Women’s semi-finals 2.00 pm

Men’s Plate semi-finals 2.20 pm

Men’s Cup semi-finals 2.40 pm

Women’s final 3.00 pm

Men’s Plate final 3.20 pm

Men’s Cup final 3.40 pm

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