Upper Hutt win Wellington club Sevens Men?s title

Above: Members of the Upper Hutt Men's Sevens team, winners of the 2013 American Ambassador's Sevens Trophy?

Hard work on the training field in recent times turned to fruition this evening at Wakefield Park for Upper Hutt when they were presented with the American Ambassador’s Wellington club Sevens title.

Upper Hutt pulled clear in the second half to beat Wainuiomata 40-17 in the Men’s Cup final of the day-long tournament that was played in fine, cool conditions all day on the new Wakefield Park Artificial complex.

Playing with patience and composure all day, Upper Hutt’s defence was outstanding, the men in maroon making their tackles, pouncing on turnover ball and making the opposition pay for any lacklustre play.

They unleashed a new star too, in Upper Hutt Colts player Colin Leilua-Toilolo who scored a hat trick of tries in the final and was adjudged Upper Hutt’s Player of the Tournament.

Leilua-Toilolo scored his first two tries either side of halftime, which proved the match winners for his side against Wainuiomata who were direct and whose ball runners such as Marvin Karawana and John Monu impressed all tournament. Leilua-Tulolo scored to break a 12-12 deadlock and give Upper Hutt a 19-12 lead at halftime and then he crossed for another converted try immediately after the turnaround to extend Upper Hutt’s lead to 26-12.

There was no coming back for Wainuiomata after that, and captain Hayden Schrijvers was delighted with his team’s performance all day. “This is the culmination of all our hard work. We’ve worked hard two nights a week and it’s great that it’s all paid off.”

Schrijvers complimented everyone involved in the team. “A few young boys were coming into the mix for us as well. This is their first tournament and they really stepped up, guys like Colin Leilua-Toilolo. Also our established players like Kayne Hammington, Joyner Key and Murphy Taramai all played well.”

Upper Hutt also beat Northern United 38-7 in the Cup semi- final. Wainuiomata held on to beat a fast-finishing Hutt Old Boys Marist 22-17 in the other Cup semi-final.

This is Upper Hutt’s first major Wellington club rugby title since winning the Swindale Shield in 2005.

Another feature of the Men’s section was three out of the four Cup semi-finalists being Hutt clubs, in Upper Hutt, Wainuiomata and HOBM.

The Upper Hutt and Wainuiomata squad lists for the day were:

Upper Hutt: Hayden Schrijvers (captain), Murphy Taramai,? Kayne Hammington, Joyner Key, Josh HuntJordon Simpson-Heft, Richard Wasley, Sam Wasley, Taniela Manu, Colin Leilua-Toilolo, Jared Churchward,? Nacaniela Nasora

Wainuiomata: John Monu (captain), John Gregory, Jason Love, Eden Monu, Teru Time, Dion Leolofi, Genesis Mamea, Blaise Tuisila, Marvin Karawana, Uale Mai, Tyler Tane, Matt Jacobs

Earlier, defending Men's AA Cup champions Tawa were rocked on their heels when they were forced to forfeit all their points from their very first match of the day against Paremata Plimmerton for making six substitutions instead of the allowed-for three.

The loss by default meant they finished second in their Pool behind Norths and they had to contest the Plate division in the afternoon, which they won by beating Ories by default.

The Colts division was won by an impressive Scots College, who continued where they left off from Monday’s Wellington Secondary School Condor tournament and beating the Junior Wellington Axemen 35-5 in the final.

Similar to their win over St Pat’s Silverstream in Monday’s final, Wellington kept in touch at halftime, trailing 5-14, but Scots put the afterburners on early in the second spell.

Scots had wins over Upper Hutt (1), Poneke and Ories in Pool play and then beat Upper Hutt (2) 38-0 in their semi-final.

There was an upset in the very first women’s match of the day, with Ories tipping over favourties and eventual winners Norths 19-15.

Norths bounced back from their first-up defeat to win all their remaining matches, defeating Avalon 25-5 in their semi-final.

Wainuiomata’s 17-14 win over Ories in the other women’s semi-final was the closest knockout match of the day.

The AA Sevens? brought the curtain down on a memorable club season in Wellington.The next event is the Piri Weepu Sevens, coming up in a few weeks. Details coming soon.

Tournament results (note these are unofficial results only and could be proven inaccurate until verified):

Men's Pool Results

Norths 22 - Avalon 12
Paremata-Plimmerton WBD - Tawa (1) LBD
OBU 25 - Johnsonville 10
Poneke 28 - Petone 24
Upper Hutt 31 -Ories (1) 0
Wainuiomata 12 - MSP 7
Tawa (1) 19 - Norths 7
Upper Hutt 24 - Johnsonville 17
Avalon 40 - Paremata-Plimmerton 0
HOBM 19 - Tawa (2) 15
Ories (2) 38 - OBU 14
Norths 41 - Paremata-Plimmerton 5
Wainuiomata 33 - Poneke 10
Tawa (1) 19 - Avalon 14
MSP 24 - Petone 15
Ories (2) 36 v Johnsonville 7
HOBM 52? - Ories 1 0

Men’s Plate Semi-finals:

Ories (2) 28 v Tawa (1) 0 and Tawa (2) 26?? v Poneke 14

Men’s Cup Semi-finals:

Upper Hutt 38 v Norths 7 and Wainuomata 22 - HOBM 17

Men’s Plate final:

Tawa (2) beat Ories (2) by default

Men’s Cup final:

Upper Hutt 40 v Wainuiomata 17

Colts Pool Results

Scots College 22 - Upper Hutt (1) 7
OBU 33 - Poneke 7
Wellington 42 - MSP 0
Norths 15 - Ories 5
HOBM 14 - Avalon 5
Tawa 26 - Upper Hutt (2) 10
Wellington 40 - Upper Hutt (2) 0
Upper Hutt (1) 31 - Ories 0
OBU 26 - Ories 7
Scots College 38 - Poneke 0
HOBM 24 - MSP 12
Scots College 40 - Ories 5
Upper Hutt (1) 34 - OBU 10
Norths 26 - Poneke 12
HOBM 29 - Upper Hutt (2) 15
Wellington 35 - Avalon 0

Colts Semi-finals:

Scots College 38 v Upper Hutt (2) 0
Wellington 19 v Upper Hutt (1) 5

Colts final:

Scots College 35 v Wellington 5

Women's Pool Results:

Ories 19 - Norths 15
Avalon 19 - OBU 0
Wainuiomata 27 - Poneke 10
Ories 55? - Poneke 0
Wainuiomata 24 - Avalon 12
Norths 25 - Wainuiomata 7
OBU 19 - Poneke 5

Norths 29- - OBU 7

Women’s Semi-finals

Updated: Norths 15 v Avalon 5

Wainuiomata 17 v Ories 14

Women’s Final:

Norths 24 v Wainuiomata 5