Two College Sevens tournaments this Saturday

Above: Members of the Aotea College (winners) and Mana College Sevens squads that met in the final of the inaugural Derek Wootton Memorial Trust Sevens tournament last year. Eleven teams representing seven local colleges are taking part in this tournament at Porirua Park on Saturday. Photo supplied.

Following on from the success of last Sunday’s inaugural Hutt Valley Secondary Schools Sevens tournament, won by St Pat’s Silverstream, many schools are busy preparing for one of two college Sevens tournaments this Saturday.

There’s the second annual Derek Wootton Memorial Trust Sevens at Porirua Park, involving college teams from Western Bays schools, and also the College Sport Wellington organised Sevens Rugby Festival at the artificial field at Wakefield Park.

Both are lead-up events to the Wellington and Wairarapa legs of the national Condor Sevens qualifying tournament being staged on 28 October at Naenae College.

The Derek Wootton Memorial Trust tournament on Porirua Park No. 1 is an all-day tournament involving six boys teams and five girls team from all of the local colleges - Tawa College, Bishop Viard College, Mana College, Porirua College, Aotea College, Kapiti College and Paraparaumu College.

The boys are playing for the Derek Wootton Memorial Trust Sevens Trophy, sponsored by John Ryan Plumbing, and the girls are contesting the Derek Wootton Memorial Trust Girls Sevens trophy, sponsored by the Porirua RSA. ?

Pool matches are scheduled to take place from 9.30 am to just after 3.00 pm, followed by playoffs culminating in the boys and girls finals scheduled to be played just before and just after 5.00 pm.

Derek Wootton was a Porirua Police officer who was killed in the line of duty in July 2008. In 2009 the Trust was set up on the anniversary of his death. One of the aims of the trust is to support youth in the Porirua and Kapiti area by assisting with ways to improve their lives whether it be sporting, cultural or academic.

Last year the Porirua Police and the DWMT decided that there was an opportunity for the Police and the Trust to run a festival sporting event that would include all of the colleges in the Kapiti Mana Area (Tawa to Waikanae).

It was from here that the idea of running a sevens tournament for the local colleges was born.

Derek was a foundation pupil of one of Bishop Viard College and played rugby for the old Porirua Rugby Club in the 1980s and was a keen supporter of the Norths Rugby Club.? His older brother John is a former Wellington Rugby Representative and Past President of the WRFU.

Five boys and four girls schools will also take part in the open festival at Wakefield Park, these being:

Boys: Taita College, Naenae College, Rongotai College,? St Pat’s Town and Hutt International Boys’ School.

Girls: St Catherine’s, Sacred Heart College, Wellington East Girls’ College, and Hutt Valley High School.

This festival takes the form of a round-robin, with no playoffs or finals.? Games run between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm.