The Long Bay College Open Girls team finished ninth at last year’s Condor 7s, and they return to the tournament this weekend as recent North Harbour champions. We caught up with the team ahead of the tournament this coming weekend.

Team: Long Bay College Open Girls Rugby Sevens Team

​Founded: Long Bay College was founded in 1975. The school vision being Personal Excellence for Global Success.

Personnel:

Dene Vosloo (Captain) – (Jersey No: 10 – Year 13)
Dannidee Dreyer – (Jersey No: 5 – Year 12)
Faith Underwood – (Jersey No: 2 – Year 12)
Georgie Carroll – (Jersey No: 9 – Year 11)
Hannah Corkill – (Jersey No: 3 – Year 10)
Holly Skinner – (Jersey No: 13 – Year 13)
Jenna Over - (Jersey No: 6 – Year 13)
Jessica Heath – (Jersey No: 11 – Year 13)
Kara Sheerin – (Jersey No: 4 – Year 11)
Latisha Trigwell-Achmad – (Jersey No: 8 – Year 11)
Mila Matson – (Jersey No: 14 – Year 11)
Phillipa Henderson – (Jersey No: 12 – Year 13)
Renee Haywood - (Jersey No: 1 – Year 10)
Sammy Speak – (Jersey No: 7 – Year 12)
 
Coach: Kevin Parslow
Manager: Teresa Underwood

2018 season:
 
The Long Bay College Open Girls Rugby Sevens team has had a successful year of rugby in 2018, with the team going undefeated in the Harbour Sevens tournament and winning the final against Massey High School. This was the school’s maiden win, after finished second on four previous occasions.

In July, the team was invited to the Griffin’s Invitational Rugby Sevens Tournament in Noumea, New Caledonia. The team only had one loss to the eventual winners of the tournament and came away asthe Plate winners. During the tournament, the girls played a team from the island of Lifou who could not afford mouth guards and many players did not have boots. In the spirit of rugby, the Long Bay College girls went into town after the first day of play and purchased mouth guards and boots for the team. The Lifou team was exceptionally grateful of the gifts and gave a blessing to the Long Bay College Girls.

The Long Bay College 10-a-side team, of which all the Sevens team are part of, convincingly wonthe North Harbour Championship against Rangitoto College in a thrilling final (54 to 12) at QBE Stadium prior to a Mitre 10 Cup game.

The team motto is Control the Controllable.
 
Representative players:

Ten of the Long Bay College players have played for North Harbour in either Sevens or 15-a-side this
year.

Phillipa Henderson won 2018 Harbour Player of the Year at the recent North Harbour Rugby Awards. Jessica Heath has recently participated in the Red Bull Ignite 7 tournament for the quest to find the next Black Ferns Sevens superstars.

​Coaching:

As a school, the Long Bay College Girls Rugby programme has been so successful due to the coaching of Kevin Parslow and his ongoing passion to promote Girls Rugby. The school currently has 22 U15 girls who are training which will further build the team for the future.

Condors draw:

Long Bay College are in Pool L on the first day of the Condors, along with St Mary’s College (Wellington), Gisborne Girls’ High School (Poverty Bay) and Opotiki College (Bay of Plenty).
Their games on the opening day are:
10.10am Long Bay College v Gisborne Girls’ High School (field 4)
12.10pm Long Bay College v St Mary’s College (field 1)
2.10pm: Long Bay College v Opotiki College (field 3)

PHOTOS: Credit to Donald Allison-Carnie and Kevin Parslow for images in this story. 

Westlake Boys' High School are the most dominant rugby school on the North Shore having won the North Harbour 1A First XV championship 15 times since its inception in 1985.

Additionally Westlake are the present North Harbour senior and U15 sevens champions and have won the first U15 National Condor 7s title in 2015. The National Condor 7s for both age groups happens next weekend at Sacred Heart College in Auckland and Westlake has strong teams in both divisions.

Key Stats

Founded: 1962
Motto: Virtute Experiamur - Let Courage Be Thy Test
Roll: 2000 (Plus)
Most Recent All Black: Dillon Hunt, 2018
Most Famous Sevens All Black: Nick Evans
 
Westlake Seniors

Westlake didn’t enter the tournament last year, but finished a credible 9 th in 2016. Westlake is a young team building for the future with 9/12 players either Year 11 or 12. The leader of the side is very much First XV captain and senior volleyball player Tiennan Costley. The Blues U18 selection has exceptional skills combined with abrasiveness on defence and an instinct for the line. Westlake is grouped with Waikato runners up St Peter’s Cambridge, National Top Four First XV runners up Napier Boys’ High School and Taranaki champions
New Plymouth Boys’ High School.

North Harbour Sevens Results

Pool: Albany Senior High School, 42-5
Pool: Northcote College, 50-0
Pool: Massey High School, 17-7
Semi-Final: Orewa College, 24-12
Final: Takapuna Grammar School, 22-17
 
Westlake U15’s

Westlake has a strong history in the U15 tourney, winning the first event in 2015 after finishing third last year, improving three places from 2016. Westlake won the North Harbour U15 qualifying tournament and are hopeful of National success with an experienced squad consisting of four Year 11 students and eight Year 10 players. Some of the players to watch include:
 
Caleb Tangitau – Promising skill and obvious speed. He is a player to watch throughout the
tournament with his ability to ignite the game and score unbelievable tries.

Peti Tavui – Strong ball runner and huge work rate. Enjoys the physical confrontations and
can evade defenders with a good turn of pace.

Etienne Piere – The stepper and speedster in the team as well as being a hearty defender.
Clayton Kozte – A workhorse forward.

Sam Charlesworth – An Auckland surfing champion who is adept in the tackle and serves as
one of the key leaders in the group.
 
North Harbour U15 Sevens Results

Pool: Rangitoto College, 60-0
Pool: Kaipara College, 26-5
Pool: Rosmini College, 27 – 7
Semi Final: Massey High School, 31-0
Final: Takapuna Grammar School, 43 – 5

St Peter's College's Niko Jones has signed a NZRU All Blacks Sevens contract.

Jone joins four other players on the contracted list including former Whangarei Boys' High School player and athletics thrower Scott Gregory.   

Newcomers Gregory and Jones are the latest of New Zealand’s emerging rugby talent to choose the sevens pathway.

“This year was a perfect example with Etene Nanai-Seturo and Salesi Rayasi playing a year of sevens before picking up Investec Super Rugby contracts. Scott and Niko are outstanding young athletes and its exciting to see what they might be able to achieve in this form of the game, said All Black Sevens coach Clarke Laidlaw.
“Our job is to develop these young men on and off the field; both have big futures ahead of them,” said Laidlaw.

​Read more about Niko Jones here 

Hamilton Girls’ High School rose to the top of the secondary girls rugby tree again, winning the Hine Pounamu Top 4 Trophy for the first time since 2015 on the back of winning last December’s Condor Sevens.

But in an increasingly competitive girls rugby landscape – both in 15s and 7s rugby – there are more contenders putting their hands up to challenge in the future. Following the Top 4, the New Zealand U18 Girls team won gold at the Youth Olympic Games, while a number of schoolgirls made their debuts in the Women’s NPC Farah Palmer Cup competition.

Our contenders are below for our fourth annual Champion of Champions series – vote in the poll  - scroll down below.

​Glory Aiono and Ana Mamea – Aorere College – Chosen together in this list, Aiono and Mamea were Aorere College’s two standout players at the Top 4 tournament. Playing lock and loose forward, they impressed with their damaging ball running and helped Aorere come back from an opening day defeat to Hamilton GHS to beat Southland in their second game to finish third. Both then played for Counties-Manukau in the Women’s NPC competition, both appearing in all eight matches for the Heat. Aoino played the last four matches including the final in the starting XV while Mamea scored two tries on debut against Waikato and then scored two tries in the Premiership final against Canterbury.  

​Carys Dallinger – Manukura – The Manukura fullback produced the individual performance of the Top 4 tournament in early September, scoring three tries and setting up two more against Southland GHS. Her pace and skill helped propel Manukura to their maiden final, in which they lost to rampant winners Hamilton GHS. Previously, Dallinger had been a key player in Manukura beating last year’s Top 4 champions St Mary’s College 38-33 in the Hurricanes region decider. Dallinger was one of four Manukura players in this year’s Manawatu Cyclones squad and made three Women’s NPC appearances including two starts at fullback. She subsequently joined her Manukura teammate Kalyn Takitimu-Cook in the gold medal-winning NZ U18 Youth Olympic Games team.

Tiana Davison – Sacred Heart College, New Plymouth  - Hard work paid off this year for Sacred Heart’s sports prefect Tiana Davison when she returned to New Zealand in October with a gold medal around her neck. Davison and the New Zealand U18 Sevens team rallied to beat France in the Youth Olympics final. Started playing rugby aged three and captains her school sevens and fifteens team, and plays for Clifton on the burgeoning Taranaki competition. A high work rate and a committed defender. Nominated as a Taranaki Senior Sportswoman of the year. 

​Amy Rule – Aparima College  - The Head Girl of her school in Riverton played for Winton’s Central Southland College this year in the local school competition and played club rugby for the Blues Club. Otago Spirit coach Scott Manson (a former prop) picked the specialist tighthead prop in Otago’s squad and she played six matches including two starts against Counties Manukau and Tasman and 25 minutes off the bench in the Championship final against a blockbusting Wellington team. 

​Montessa Tairakena (Hamilton Girls’ High School) - Montessa, who switches comfortably between halfback and wing, was a nightmare for all opposition this year. She started the year in try-scoring mood at the Sir Gordon Tietjens 7s in Palmerston North. At Hamilton Girls she helped he First XV complete an unbeaten season and back in Palmerston North she scored three tries in the National Top Four semi-final and two in the decider. Even better was to come at the Youth Olympics in Argentina where Montessa helped New Zealand win their first ever goal medal - scoring a try in the 15-12 victory over France in the final.  

​Previous winners
2017: Grace Brooker (Christchurch Girls’ High School)
2016: Rina Paraone (Kaipara College)
2015: Ayesha Leti-L'iga (Porirua College)