
Scots College and St Pat’s Silverstream at the recent Wellington Condor 7s tournament. Both teams have been competing at this weekend’s National Condors at Mt Maunganui, with Scots finishing 5th and Silverstream 14th.
- By Scott MacLean
A solid showing from the four Wellington schools at this years Condor 7s, which took place at its new home of Blake Park in Mount Maunganui.
In the Boys section Scots College topped their pool on day one, accounting for Whangarei Boys 24-5 and Auckland’s James Cook HS 31-21 before edging out St John’s Hamilton 22-19. Sunday’s matches saw them drawn against perennial powerhouse Hamilton Boys in the quarterfinals and the 7-28 loss eliminated them from championship honours, but wins over Auckland paid De La Salle (36-15) and Kelston Boys (26-19) saw them claim fifth place.
It was a tougher two days for Silverstream. Drawn in one of the pools with only three teams, they started well with a 31-24 win over St Thomas’ of Canterbury before taking their bye. But they were steamrolled 0-31 by Hamilton in the final game of day one dropping them to the second 8 for day two. A 35-24 loss to St John’s Hamilton was followed by a 26-19 win over Whanganui Collegiate, before a 26-28 defeat to Palmerston North Boys left them 14th overall.
The real surprise however was that Hamilton’s seven-year streak of winning this title was brought to an end as they were beaten 7-17 by Rotorua Boys in the semifinals. The local side would take the championship, beating a very good Feilding High side 19-14 in the decider.
In the Girls section both St Mary’s and Sacred Heart found themselves drawn in the same five-team pool. They met first up and it was the latter that took the spoils this time around, winning 24-17. That set up the Lower Hutt school for a perfect first day with wins against Auckland Girls Grammar (38-19), Dunedin’s St Hilda’s (42-12), and Rosehill College (39-0). St Mary’s rebounded to also beat those three opponents; St Hilda’s 29-7, Rosehill 43-0, and Auckland Girls 37-5, putting the pair first and second in their pool and into Sunday’s top eight.
St Mary’s were the first to dip out, going down 0-19 by Mt Albert Grammar in the quarters and then beaten 15-19 in the consolation round by Hamilton. They did however finish on a high with a 24-19 win over Sacred Heart New Plymouth to finish 7th.
Sacred Heart though made it into the last four, beating their New Plymouth brethren 14-10 in their quarterfinal. But they ran into the buzzsaw that is the Manawatu powerhouse Manukura and went down 0-32 in the semifinals and perhaps understandably deflated lost their consolation match 10-33 to Mt Albert. However fourth overall is a stunning achievement.
Manukura defended their title by defeating Howick College 33-19 in the final.
For full results and tournament information visit the tournament website HERE