Central Region Sevens in Levin on Saturday

Playford Park in Levin comes alive on Saturday with the Men’s and Women’s Central Region Qualifying tournament for the Sevens Nationals in the New Year.

Seven of the eight Hurricanes region sides (East Coast not entering) and Taranaki will contest the Men’s side of the draw, with five spots for the Nationals up for grabs, while Wellington, Wairarapa-Bush, Manawatu, Taranaki and Poverty Bay will be chasing three places available for the Women’s Nationals.

The Nationals are in Rotorua on the weekend of 16 and 17 January, a month away.

The Men’s competition will operate with two pools of four teams. Wellington are top seeds in Pool A, with the recent Heartland competition champions the Wanganui Butcher Boys, Wairarapa-Bush and hosts Horowhenua-Kapiti alongside them. Pool B has top seeds Taranaki, Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay and Poverty Bay – with at least one of these teams to miss out on qualification.

Last year, then defending Central Region champions Hawke’s Bay were dumped out of this tournament. Horowhenua-Kapiti created the boilover of the day, knocking over Hawke’s Bay 15-10 in the playoff for fifth and sixth and sealing the fifth and final spot for the 2015 Nationals.

Hawke’s Bay promises to be stronger this year, and will hope to ride the success of the Hastings Boys’ High School team that finished runners-up at last weekend’s Condor 7s. A common denominator will be their coach, former NZ Sevens international Tafai Ioasa, who coaches both teams.

Taranaki won last year’s Central Region men’s tournament beating Manawatu 40-33 in the final in a high scoring thriller- Latu Vaeno scoring a hat-trick, including the match-winner at the end after scores had been locked up at at the end of regular time. Club Rugby Taranaki will be previewing the Taranaki team’s chances in a separate article.

2014 champions Manawatu are coached by Junior Tomasi Cama and are sure to be strong. Manawatu Turbo Jaxon Tagavaitau is the captain, while other players to look out for include Newton Tudreu , Jordan Bunce and former Turbo Willie Paia'aua who was the man who scored the try for Horowhenua Kapiti last year that knocked out Hawke’s Bay.

The Wellington team appeals as a possible Central Zone winner. Coach Scott Waldrom has built good depth and competition within the squad. Players to watch could include Upper Hutt Rams trio Hayden Schrijvers, Murphy Taramai and Jordan Simpson-Heft, HOBM duo Lise Soloa, Sheridan Rangihuna and former NZ Sevens star Roy Kinikinilau.

The five Women’s teams square off in a one-pool round-robin before a straight 1 v 2 final and 3 v 4 playoff.
Last year, Manawatu won back-to-back Central Region titles, pipping Wellington 27-22 in extra time after scores were locked up at 22-22 at the end of the regulation 20 minutes.

All provinces have been slowly ramping up their preparations with appearances in various local tournaments over the past few weeks and some recent hard training sessions.

The Wellington Men’s and Women’s sides last competed at the Auckland 7s tournament a fortnight ago, the Wellington men beating Counties Manukau 17-7 in the Cup final and the Wellington women finished third.

Saturday’s tournament is one of three qualifying events for the National Tournament, with the Northern Region qualifiers in Cambridge on Sunday and the South Island tournament in Timaru already played.

Otago (men’s) and Canterbury (women’s) won the Southern Sevens qualifiers, with Otago beating Tasman 29-27 in the final and Canterbury beating Otago 22-17 in their final.

In the men’s section, Otago, Tasman, Canterbury, Mid Canterbury and South Canterbury qualified for the nationals, with Southland missing out. In the women’s, Canterbury, Otago and Tasman qualified from the South Island.

This Saturday’s Central tournament at Playford Park is live on Sky TV from 12.20 pm. The teams climb into their work at Playford Park at 10.00am.

For more live coverage, follow the tournaments Facebook page 

Pools

Men’s
Pool A: Wellington,Horowhenua-Kapiti, Wairarapa-Bush, Wanganui
Pool B: Manawatu, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Poverty Bay

Women’s
Pool C: Manawatu, Wellington, Taranaki, Wairarapa-Bush, Poverty Bay

Schedule

Men’s Pool matches:
10.20am Taranaki v Poverty Bay
10.40am Horowhenua Kapiti v Wanganui and Wellington v Wairarapa-Bush
11.00am Hawke’s Bay v Manawatu
11.40am Wanaganui v Wairarapa Bush
12.00pm Horowhenua-Kapiti v Wellington and Poverty Bay v Manawatu
12.20pm Taranaki v Hawke’s Bay
1.00pm Wellington v Wanganui
1.20pm Horowhenua-Kapiti v Wairarapa-Bush
1.40pm Poverty Bay v Hawke’s Bay
2.00pm Taranaki v Manawatu

Women’s Pool matches:
10.00am Taranaki v Manawatu and Wairarapa Bush v Poverty Bay
11.20am Manawatu v Poverty Bay and Wellington v Wairarapa Bush
12.40pm Manawatu v Wairarapa Bush and Taranaki v Wellington
2.20pm Taranaki v Poverty Bay
2.40pm Manawatu v Wellington
3.40pm Wellington v Poverty Bay
4.00pm Wairarapa Bush v Taranaki

Men’s Crossover matches:
3.00pm Semi-finals 1st in Pool A v 2nd in Pool B and 3rd in Pool A v 4th in Pool B
3.20pm Semi-finals 1st in Pool B v 2nd in Pool A and 3rd in Pool B v 4th Pool B
4.20pm Playoffs Winner SF3 v Winner SF4 and Loser SF3 v LoserSF4
4.40pm Playoffs Loser SF1 v SF2 (3rd/4th)
6.00pm Men’s Final Rank 1 v Rank 2

Women’s Crossover matches:
4.00 pm Women’s 3rd?& 4th?playoff
4.20 pm 1 v 2 Women’s final
5.00pm Playoffs Rank 3rd v Rank 4th
5.20pm Women’s Final Rank 1 v Rank 2