St Pat’s Silverstream and St Mary’s win Wellington Condor Sevens titles

St Pat’s Silverstream (Open Boys) and St Mary’s College (Open Girls) are the 2020 Wellington Condor 7s champions.

Silverstream won the the Christian Cullen Cup with a 17-14 win over St Pat’s Town in their final and St Mary’s College retained the Kat Simpkins Cup with a 22-12 win over first time finalists Sacred Heart College.

All four finalists are heading to the National Condors in Auckland in early December.

Paraparaumu College won the Plate final with a 26-19 win over Scots College 2 in that decider. Aotea beat Rongotai College to win the Bowl final and Newlands College claimed the Shield silverware.

St Pat’s Town beat St Bernard’s College 26-19 in the U15 Boys decider, while St Mary’s College beat Wellington East Girls’ College 41-5 in the U15 Girls decider.

The Boys Cup final was a tense affair, with Silverstream clinging on to the last play against a resurgent St Pat’s Town who stretched them out wide but came up just short of the line. Silverstream won the final play turnover and booted the ball far into touch.

Town had opened the scoring when Cam Burgess had soared high and won the opening kickoff and scampered through to score to put them up 7-0.

Silverstream replied with the next three tries, playmaker Riley Higgins scoring two of these and laying on an assist to former Town player Luke Walmsley. The Upper Hutt side led 12-7 at halftime and 17-7 early in the second half.

Silverstream made some substitutes, including Higgins, and momentum switched Town’s way. They scored through Daniel Tafili to close the gap to 17-14, the final score.

This was Silverstream’s first Christian Cullen Cup win since 2014 and their second overall.

Silverstream had earlier beaten Aotea College 31-5 and Paraparaumu 48-7, and then Rongotai College 43-7.

St Mary’s College saw off the challenge of Sacred Heart College, after scoring tries through Nive Leota, after a long opening sequence on attack, and Alyssa Wilson, to go up 12-0.

Sacred Heart scored right on halftime to cut their lead to 12-7. They then equalised at 12-12 after a St Mary’s error inside their 22 and Eileen Polu scored the try.

However, St Mary’s regrouped to score twice more, through Waimarie Weston and Tara Campbell to win the Kat Simpkins Cup for the sixth consecutive year.

St Mary’s also won after dropping one of their pool games earlier in the day, losing 12-15 to Aotea College. They also beat St Catherine’s 48-0 and first time entrants Scots College Girls 29-0.

With just the top two qualifiers from the Boys and Girls sections progressing to this year’s Condor Sevens, the semi-finals were tense affairs.

The major story from the semi-finals was St Pat’s Silverstream beating three-time defending champions Scots College 26-22 in semi-final #1.

Scots scored the game’s first try, through Oryann Kalolo, shooting up the centre of the field from a scrum near halfway.

But Silverstream hit back with their first try and then their second to bustling Peter Lakai after a Mitchell Southall break. Kalolo scored his second try and Silverstream led 14-12 at halftime.

Higgins then scored for Silversteam early in the second half and they led 21-12, asking Scots to do all the work in mounting their comeback.

They replied with two tries and they went ahead 22-21. But from the next re-start, Lakai made a telling burst up into the 22, the ball was recycled and Toby Crosby crossed for the match-winner and to knock Scots out.

The other Boys Cup semi-final was tighter, with Wellington College making much of the early running against St Pat’s Town and deservedly going up 7-0, which was the halftime score.

Town scored through Francis Mettrick who made a clean break to level 7-7, before Town’s Tom Walsh won the game 14-7 near the end with an individual chip and chase try.

The first Girls Cup semi-final saw Sacred Heart College beat Aotea College 21-19 with a try on fulltime to hard running Sanna Aumua.

Aumua, sister of the rugby playing brothers, had earlier scored her first try to give SHC a 14-12 lead early in the second half.

Aotea College reclaimed the lead with a  chip and chase try and desperately clung to a 19-14 lead, before Aumua’s try on fulltime.

The second Girls Cup semi-final saw St Mary’s College beat Wainuiomata High School 19-0, scoring all three of their tries in the first half.

The 2020 Condor Sevens tournament was played in ideal conditions at Naenae College for hard-fought, running rugby.

Cloud cover and a moderate wind only made for plenty of close games across four fields from 9am to the close just after 5pm.

Results below:

Pool	Team			Score	Team			Score
G 	Silverstream U15	44	Bishop Viard U15	5
H	Mana U15		19	Aotea U15		14
H	St Pats Town U15	48	Rongotai U15		0
G	Scots U15		15	Hutt Valley U15		15
E	St Mary's		48	St Catherine's		0
E	Aotea			14	Scots			5
A	Scots			51	Newlands		0
B	St Pats Town		47	Bishop Viard		5
F	Wainuiomata		48	Wellington Girls	0
C	Rongotai		12	Scots 2			24
D	Aotea			28	Paraparaumu		19
F	Sacred Heart		17	St Mary's 2		7
H	Rongotai U15		10	Aotea U15		19
G	St Bernard's U15	38	Hutt Valley U15		0
G	Scots U15		43	Bishop Viard U15	0
H	St Pats Town U15	50	Mana U15		0
E	Aotea			52	St Catherine's		5
E	St Mary's		29	Scots			0
J	St Mary's U15		44	Mana U15		0
B	Taita			10	Bishop Viard		33
A	Wainuiomata		50	Newlands		0
F	Sacred Heart		38	Wellington Girls	0
J	Wellington East U15	26	Upper Hutt U15		7
D	Silverstream		48	Paraparaumu		7
C	Wellington College	26	Scots 2			10
F	Wainuiomata		25	St Mary's 2		0
G	Silverstream U15	12	St Bernard's U15	17
G	Hutt Valley U15		25	Bishop Viard U15	5
F	St Mary's 2		34	Wellington Girls	0
E	St Catherine's		7	Scots			35
J	St Mary's U15		24	Wellington East U15	12
E	St Mary's		12	Aotea			15
B	St Pats Town		40	Taita			0
A	Scots			43	Wainuiomata		12
J	Mana U15		19	Upper Hutt U15		26
F	Sacred Heart		7	Wainuiomata		12
D	Aotea			5	Silverstream		31
C	Rongotai		17	Wellington College	38
H	St Pats Town U15	34	Aotea U15		0
G	Scots U15		10	St Bernard's U15	26
H	Mana U15		7	Rongotai U15		29
G	Silverstream U15	40	Hutt Valley U15		7
Bs Plt SF  Newlands		12	Paraparaumu		31
J	Wellington East U15	25	Mana U15		0
B Cup QF  Scots			40	Bishop Viard		0
B Cup QF  St Pats Town		47	Wainuiomata		7
B Plt SF  Taita			15	Scots 2			40
J	St Mary's U15		34	Upper Hutt U15		14
B Cup QF  Wellington College	37	Aotea 			0
B Cup QF  Silverstream		43	Rongotai		7
G	St Bernard's U15	35	Bishop Viard U15	0
G	Scots U15		5	Silverstream U15	36
H Playoff  Town			52	Aotea			0
G Bwl SF  Scots			25	Wellington Girls	15
H 3rd/4th  Rongotai		15	Mana			17
G Cup SF  Aotea			19	Sacred Heart		21
G Cup SF  Wainuiomata		0	St Mary's		19
G Bwl SF  St Mary's 2		WBD	St Catherine's		LBD
15G Final St Mary's U15		41	Wellington East U15	5
B Shield  Newlands		WBD	Taita			LBD
B Cup SF  Scots			22	Silverstream		28
B Bwl SF  Wainuiomata		5	Aotea			33
B Bwl SF  Bishop Viard		10	Rongotai		24
B Cup SF  St Pats Town		14	Wellington College	7
B Plt F	  Paraparaumu		26	Scots 2			19
G Bwl F	  Scots			17	St Mary's 2		12
15B Final St Bernard's U15	12	St Pat's Town U15	26
G Cup F	  Sacred Heart		12	St Mary's		22
B Bwl F	  Aotea			26	Rongotai		12
B Cup F	  Silverstream		17	St Pats Town		14