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Jack Wright gets airborne for the Upper Hutt Rams against the Wellington Axemen today, in the opening weekend of sevens in Wellington.
- By Steven White
- Photos by Andy McArthur
Paremata-Plimmerton Black and the Upper Hutt Rams are in the box seat after the first leg of two Wellington club rugby sevens tournaments at Rugby League Park and Te Whaea today.
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For results from today visit: https://xplorer.rugby/american-ambassador-7s/fixtures-results?team=All&comp=All&season=All&tab=Fixtures
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In fine, breezy conditions, the first of the two Paremata-Plimmerton teams and the Rams emerged unbeaten with four straight wins each, and they top their respective pools heading into next weekend’s second and final leg where points are carried over from today leading to knockout matches at the end of the day.
Defending champions Paremata-Plimmerton arrived with two teams, nominally even, but their Black side led by such try-scoring machines as Ethan Webster-Nonu, Joe Faleafaga and Louis Northcott cut a swathe through Pool A.
The Pare-Plim Black side had wins over Oriental-Rongotai (21-10), Northern United (45-14), Avalon (38-15) and Old Boys University (37-14).
Ories’ loss to that side was their only defeat of the day, and they are a clear second in their Pool, having beaten Old Boys University (24-19), Kapiti Coast visitors Waikanae (39-5) and Avalon (40-19).
Similarly, the Upper Hutt Rams team, with players like Daniel Schrijvers, Jack Wright (pictured above), Todd Svenson, Ieti Campbell, Emmanuel Solomona, Fritz Rayasi and Josh Hunt to call on, were in full control of Pool B.
The Rams beat Marist St Pat’s (36-0), Poneke (33-7), the Wellington Axemen (38-10) and the Esi Komaisavai-led Paremata-Plimmerton Red side (34-12).
The Paremata-Plimmerton Red team and the Manawatu Combined visitors were second equal in Pool B after the opening day with two wins from four each. Manawatu, an unofficial represeantive side, suffered defeats to MSP (21-24) and Pare-Plim Red (12-34).
A number of familiar Premier club rugby players and proven sevens performers from recent years were on display today, while there were also a handful of young guns and some others appearing for different clubs than whom they did this season.
Above: Finn O’Sullivan goes over the try for Old Boys University.
Below: Thomas Kiwara beats Jeremiah Avei-Collins to the ball for the try in their match.
Up on Te Whaea, the opening weekend of two in the Women’s Eleonor Roosevelt Cup saw Petone win all four of their matches.
Petone had wins over Stokes Valley (27-7), MSP (41-7), Paremata-Plimmerton (10-7) and Norths (score TBC*)
The Women’s tournament was competitive, with plenty left on the table for next week amongst the sides. Some other results saw Stokes Valley beating Pare-Plimmerton (15-10), MSP beating Norths (20-15) and Paremata-Plimmerton defeating Norths (score TBC*).
*At the time of publishing this, the women’s results at the link above is incomplete.
Marist St Pat’s women’s side made a return to the field after their absence this season in 15s rugby.
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Meanwhile, the Hurricanes Schools Sevens tournament at Feilding High School proved to be a fizzer in more than ways than one.
Following the draw that came out featuring just five teams, conditions were wet and the tournament wrapped up at the conclusion of the round-robin.
Hosts Feilding High School were declared the tournament winner, with wins over Whanganui Collegiate (34-17), St Pat’s Silverstream (24-7) and Lindisfarne College (score TBC).
Wellington school St Pat’s Silverstream followed up their loss to Feilding with a win over Wellington competition newcomers Rathkeale College (49-17), a loss to Whanganui Collegiate (12-17) while their final match of the day against Lindisfarne wasn’t played owing to the wet conditions.
