Hastings BHS Defend Hurricanes Sevens Title

The third annual Hurricanes Youth Council Secondary Schools sevens was held at the Rugby Institute in Palmerston North on Saturday.

Hastings Boys’ High School successfully defended the boys title while New Plymouth Girls’ High School, invited from the Chiefs region, captured honours in the girls section.

For the first time a tournament team and MVP was named.


Boys
Hastings Boys’ High School left the trophy at home, but it will reside safely in their cabinet for another year after they beat St. Pats Town 33-22 in an exciting final.

A hat-trick from player of the tournament Kini Naholo won Hastings the match.

In a close first-half each school scored two tries as Hastings led 14-12 at the interval.

Naholo snaffled a loose ball and dashed 50-meters early in the second-half to extend Hastings lead to seven. New Zealand Schools representative and shock absentee from the tournament team Lincoln McClutchie then scored a 55-meter try of his own to put Hastings out of reach. Town finished with spirit and the outstanding Billy Proctor added a second try after scoring a beauty in the first-half supporting a Xavier English steal and break.

Earlier Hastings didn’t concede a point en route to the decider. Hastings topped the round-robin avoiding a cross over fixture. They beat Palmerston North BHS (White) 43-0 and Rongotai College 37-0. In the semi-finals Feilding High School were dispatched four tries to nil. Naholo crossed the chalk six times and Danny Toala four times as Hastings scored 18 unanswered tries.

Both Palmerston North BHS selections were unbeaten in Pool play with the superior White outfit eliminating their Blue counterparts in cross over play. St. Pats Town (Blue) were the other standouts. In Pool play Town (Blue) beat Freyberg High School 45-0 and Feilding High School 10-5 in a keenly fought tussle. In the semi-finals Town galloped away from Palmerston North BHS (White) to win 40-5. Procter scored four tries across the games.

The Rongotai College v Lindisfarne College cross over match was a thriller with Lindisfarne prevailing 17-14. Two quick tries by impressive Fijian Loqo Waqanidrola in the first-half was sufficient to withstand a late Rongotai fightback.

In the 5th v 6th playoff, Rongotai returned serve to win convincingly. William Heather and Sen Chut scored two tries each.


Tournament Team
Danny Toala (Hastings BHS)
Trent Hape (Hastings BHS)
Kini Naholo (Hastings BHS)
Billy Procter (St. Pats Town)
Zane Dallinger (Feilding HS)
Sam Baylis (St. Pats Town)
Pena Va’a (Rongotai College)

The Competing Teams Were: Hastings BHS, St. Pats Town (Blue & White), Palmerston North BHS (White & Blue), Rongotai College, Lindisfarne College, Feilding High School, Freyberg High School.


Girls
Eventual finalists New Plymouth Girls HS and Manukura School provided early evidence of their excellence with an engaging clash in Pool Play.

New Plymouth held onto to win 12-10. New Plymouth started strongly scoring the first two tries, but a brace by Hana Waniaho closed the gap to set up a frantic finish.

In the decider New Plymouth made a similarly decisive start surging to a 19-0 lead at halftime. A feature of Manukura’s push to the final was their defense and despite some excellent scramble in the second-half, New Plymouth added a further score to win 26-0.

MVP Brooke Neilson scored two tries and Kayla Henry and Atalya Fakavomoeanga crossed in an impressive display.

New Plymouth scored 35 tries in five games and scored the biggest win of the tournament when they beat Wanganui Girls College 59-0. Henry collected a hat-trick in that clash.

Feilding High School were in a prolific scoring mood racking up 144 points in three pool games. Feilding overpowered Palmerston North GHS (28-0), Cullinane College (59-0) and Freyberg (57-0). Feilding came unstuck to a tenacious Manukura in the semi-finals. The game had to be relocated to a different field while an injured Manukura player, who put her body on the line, was put in an ambulance. Waniaho scored the telling try in a 10-5 victory.


Tournament Team
Georgia Ponsonby (Feilding HS)
Hana Waniohu (Manukura)
Isabella Rawiri-Wharerau (Manukura)
Brooke Neilson (New Plymouth GHS)
Layla Sae (St. Peter’s College)
Mikayla Callaghan (New Plymouth GHS)
Meilini Meo (Wanganui Girls’ College)

The Competing Teams Were: New Plymouth GHS, Manukura School, Feilding High School, St. Peter’s College, Palmerston North GHS, Wanganui Girls’ College, Freyberg High School.


Elsewhere In Brief
The North Harbour sevens were held at the Marist Club today. 400 players representing 17 schools spread across 33 teams braved the rain to contest 60 games. Westlake BHS won the boys championship thrashing Rangitoto College 28-0 in the final. Both schools make it to the Condor 7s. Rangitoto will also appear in the girls tourney despite losing to Kaipara College 45-0. Westlake captured double glory when they edged Rangitoto College 29-21 in the U15 final.
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In other Wellington tournaments there were wins for St. Pats Silverstream (12-10) over Scots College in the Hutt Cup sevens and Bishop Viard upset Wellington College (10-5) in the Derek Wootton Memorial Trust sevens.