LIVE SCORES – Central Region Sevens in Palmerston North on Saturday
The representative Sevens season proceeds in earnest on Saturday in Palmerston North with the Men’s and Women’s Central Region Qualifying tournament for the Sevens Nationals in the New Year.
All eight Hurricanes region sides plus Taranaki will contest the Men’s side of the draw, with five spots for the Nationals up for grabs, while Wellington, Wairarapa-Bush, Manawatu and Taranaki will be chasing three places available for the Women’s Nationals.
The Men’s competition will operate with three pools of three teams. Defending National champions Wellington, Taranaki and Manawatu are top seeds of each of these pools, while last year’s winners of this tournament Hawke’s Bay are grouped with Manawatu.
Hawke’s Bay knocked Wellington out of this tournament at the semi-final stage last year, winning 26-24, and went on to beat Taranaki 24-19 in the final.
The four Women’s teams square off in a one-pool round-robin before a straight 1 v 2 final and 3 v 4 playoff. Manawatu beat Taranaki 40-14 in the Women’s final last year.
All provinces have been fine tuning their preperations with appearances in various local tournaments over the past few weeks.
The Wellington Men’s and Women’s and the Horowhenua-Kapiti Men’s sides competed at last Saturday’s Piri Weepu 7s in Wainuiomata. The Wellington Men beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 30-15 in their final and the Wellington Women overcame Hawke’s Bay club side Havelock North 41-0 in winning their section.
Saturday’s tournament is one of three qualifying events for the National Tournament on the weekend of 17-18 January, with the Northern Region qualifiers in Hamilton on Saturday and the South Island tournament in Timaru next weekend.
The tournament at Massey University is live on Sky TV from 12.20 pm.
Pools:
Men’s
Pool A: Wellington, Horowhenua-Kapiti, East Coast
Pool B: Taranaki, Poverty Bay, Wanganui
Pool C: Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa-Bush
Women’s
Pool D: Manawatu, Wellington,Taranaki, Wairarapa-Bush
Schedule:
Men’s Pool matches:
RESULT Manawatu 07 – 15 Wairarapa-Bush
RESULT Taranaki 33 – 00 Wanganui
RESULT Wellington 56 – 00 East Coast
RESULT Poverty Bay 26 – 26 Wanganui
RESULT Hawke’sBay 21 – 17 Wairarapa-Bush
RESULT Horowhenua-Kapiti 30 – 07 East Coast
RESULT Manawatu 38 – 07 Hawke’s Bay
RESULT Taranaki 26 – 00 Poverty Bay
RESULT Wellington 38 – 14 Horowhenua-Kapiti
Women’s Pool matches:
11.00 am Manawatu v Wairarapa-Bush
RESULT Wellington 24 – 17 Taranaki
RESULT Wellington 52 – 00 Wairarapa-Bush
RESULT Manawatu 29 – 00 Taranaki
RESULT Taranaki 54 – 00 Wairarapa-Bush
RESULT Manawatu 14 – 17 Wellington
Men’s Crossover matches:
RESULT Men’s Cup semi-final Taranaki 45 – 0 Wairarapa Bush
RESULT Men’s Cup semi-final Wellington 14 – 19 Manawatu
RESULT Horowhenua-Kapiti 28 – 28 Wanganui
RESULT East Coast 0 v 52 Manawatu
Women’s Finals:
RESULT Women’s final – Manawatu 27 – 22 Wellington
RESULT Women’s 3rd & 4th playoff – Taranaki 38 – 07 Wairarapa Bush
Men’s FINALS :
In Progress : Men’s Cup final MANAWATU 33 – 26 TARANAKI
Men 3rd & 4th Wellington v Wairarapa Bush
RESULT : Men’s 5th & 6th Hawkes Bay 12 – 15 Horowhenua-Kapiti