Wellington men?s and women?s 7s teams in Central Region tournament on Saturday

The road to the national sevens will begin for central teams this weekend as Massey University prepares to host the Central Region Sevens Tournament, with the Wellington men’s and women’s teams both involved.

Held at the University's Sport and Rugby Institute in Palmerston North, the tournament is a qualifying tournament for the National Sevens tournament to be played in Rotorua from January 11th and 12th.

All eight regions from the Hurricanes catchment area have entered teams along with five women's teams.

The Wellington men’s team is:

Hayden Schrijvers (Upper Hutt, captain)
Vaea Fafita (Wellington)
Greg Foe (Poneke)
Matt Peni (Marist St Pats)
Nick Grigg (Petone)
Kayne Hammington (Upper Hutt)
InokeRasabale (Wests Roosters)
Andrew Wells (Marist St Pats)
TomasiAlosio (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
Tiwi Davies (Avalon)
TauasosiTuimavave (Poneke)
Hayden Whelan (Oriental Rongotai

The Wellington women’s team is:

Claire Rowat (captain)
Aimee Sutorius
Geneva Webber
Ruby Finau
Pauline Piliae
Agnes Dean
Kauna Lopa
Kat Simpkins
Mary Jane Ale
Heniti Davis
Lekah Leti
Timena Tuma'ai


The men’s competition will operate with two pools of four teams. At the conclusion of pool play the 1st and 2nd placed teams in each pool will contest the semi-finals.

1st Pool A v 2nd Pool B
1st Pool B v 2nd Pool A

The winners of these two semi-final games will then contest the final. All semi-finalists will qualify for the National Sevens in January. A 3rd v 4th playoff match will be held to determine the overall ranking of teams for seeding’s at the National Sevens as these teams will not have played each other during pool play.

The 5th v 6th playoff will be contested between those two teams who placed 3rd in their respective pools, this will determine the final available place for the National Sevens (with the exception of Evergreens).

The Evergreens is a Manawatu based side competing in the competition, they will compete for full competition points and also be eligible to win the final. The Evergreens however are not eligible to attend the National Championships therefore they will be taken out of the overall standings at the conclusion of the tournament.

The women’s competition will operate with one pool of 5 teams. Each team will have a BYE throughout the day. At the conclusion of pool play the 1st and 2nd placed teams overall will contest the final.

The 3rd placed team overall on points will be determined as the 3rd ranked side to attend the National Championships.

The top five men’s sides and top three women’s sides will go through to the nationals next month.

Kick-off is at 10am with the women's final scheduled to be played at 4:40pm and the men's an hour later at 5:40pm. Presentations will be held after each final.

Matches will be televised on Sky Sport 4 and the Rugby Channel from 1pm.

Men's Pools

Pool A

Taranaki
Hawkes Bay
Horowhenua/Kapiti
Evergreens

Pool B
Wellington
Manawatu
East Coast
Poverty Bay

Women's sides

Manawatu
Taranaki
Wellington
Hawkes Bay
East Coast

(Source: Managers Tournament Handbook)

The Southern qualifying tournament was held a fortnight ago and the following sides have qualified for the Nationals

Women’s
Canterbury
Otago
Southland

Men’s
Canterbury
Southland
Tasman
Mid Canterbury
Otago