National Club 7s tournament this Saturday at Karaka

Updated with draw: Six of the country’s leading club sevens teams roll up to Karaka Sports Park on Saturday to contest the National Club 7s tournament.

The six clubs that have entered this year are set to challenge for the Middlesex County Wavell Wakefield Cup.

The tournament is a one-day shootout to find this year’s champion. Pool games start at 9.00am and the 5 v 6 match is set to go at 3.40pm, the 3 v 4 game at 4.00pm and the Final at 4.20pm.

Not only will the Cup winner take home the impressive Middlesex County Wavell Wakefield Cup and be crowned the best sevens club in New Zealand for the next 12 months, they get the right to host next year’s tournament.

The teams competing are:

• Auckland Marist (Auckland)
• Hamilton Old Boys (Waikato)
• Karaka (Counties-Manukau)
• Northcote (North Harbour)
• Paremata-Plimmerton (Wellington)
• University of Canterbury (Canterbury)

It is understood there is no livestream, so supporters will need to stay tuned to their favourite club channels for despatches during and after the day’s play.

The draw is here:

After a Covid-disrupted two years with the tournament in abeyance in 2022 and 2023, Karaka won last year’s tournament on home soil. They beat Auckland University 26-12 in the 2024 final. Manurewa defeated Paremata-Plimmerton 26-17 to win the Plate final, after Paremata-Plimmerton had missed out to Auckland University in their Cup semi-final by the skin of their teeth after a drawn match and losing on the first try countback rule.

Paremata-Plimmerton’s squad is*:

Ethan Webster-Nonu (c)
Louis Northcott
Kody McGovern
Esi Komaisavai
Zane Edwards
Marzy Karim
Christiaan Faavae
Otis Baker
Sila Fa’avae
Te Manawa Staples-Rei
Sam Clarke
Jeremiah Avei-Collins (guest player)
Bruce Kauika-Petersen (guest player)
Sean Carter (guest player)

Coach: Matt Poutoa & Junior Fatialofa
Manager: Helen Collins & Dan Stevens
Asst Manager: Jake Tibbits
Late withdraw due to injury – Lima Leota

*The rules of the tournament at that in your squad of 14 you are allowed to field a maximum of four guest players not registered to your club in the previous season (April-July 2024). The rest have to be registered to the club in that previous club calendar year.

About the tournament

The Middlesex Cup sevens tournament was hosted by the Middlesex RFC at Twickenham each year from 1925. In 1949 the Middlesex Union offered cups in its name to the “Dominions of Colonies” and Middlesex Wavell Wakefield Cups were accepted by New Zealand, Australia and Rhodesia.

Brought to New Zealand by the manager of the British Lions, L.B. (Ginger) Osborne, in 1950, the tournament was started in Dunedin in 1951 and first won by local club Zingari-Richmond. It fell away in the 1990s and wasn’t contested for a decade up to its revival in 2006.

It has been held by 29 individual winners – 12 from the North Island and 17 from the South Island. It had been held by South Island clubs continuously for more than three decades before Auckland’s Pakuranga won in 2013 to become the first North Island team to prevail since Hamilton Old Boys in 1976.

The previous 10 winners have been (not played for in 2012, 2022 or 2023)

2013 Pakuranga (Auckland)

2014 Rangataua (Bay of Plenty)

2015: Wainuiomata (Wellington)

2016: Melville (Waikato)

2017: Eden (Auckland)

2018: Eden (Auckland)

2019: Northern United (Wellington)

2020: Ardmore Marist (Counties Manukau)

2021: Ardmore Marist (Counties Manukau)

2024: Karaka (Counties Manukau)