The King’s Senior 7’s Rugby Team have qualified for the National Condor Sevens Tournament. Yesterday the team participated in the Auckland Secondary School Qualifying Tournament at Waitemata RFC. The match draw was very demanding with a game every hour and conditions being very hot and dry.
The day commenced with an early start against Macleans College and the team hit the ground running with a 40-5 win.
Tries: Jarius Iosefa (Year 13, Averill), Callum Murray (Year 13, Selwyn), Luca Fuller (Year 12, Selwyn), Daniel James-Nanai (Year 12, Parnell), Joshua Schaaf (Year 13, Major), Harry Kaveriri (Year 13, Averill).
Game 2 was against Sir Edmond Hillary and after a slow start the team found some rhythm to go on and win 29-0
Tries: Jonty Willis (Year 13, Selwyn), Jarius Iosefa, Oliver Hatch (Year 12, Major), Charlie Hunn (Year 12, St. John's), Daniel James-Nanai.
Our third and last pool game was against traditional rivals Sacred Heart which proved to be as always a close and fierce encounter. After conceding two early tries the team fought back well with tries from Harry Kaveriri and Trey Alatini (Year 13, Marsden) but it wasn’t enough and we went down narrowly 14-17 and finished 2nd in our pool which saw us cross over and meet the formidable Kelston BHS in a quarter-final.
Kelston proved to be a very complete and well drilled team even for this early time in the 7’s season winning 29-7, the one try to Jarius Iosefa. This took us to a Qualifying play-off game where for some reason we met Sacred Heart again, this time playing for a qualifying spot for Nationals and to gain 5/6th spot.
The team were highly motivated to seek revenge on Sacred and started very well with two quick tries to Callum Murray and Luca Fuller. Sacred replied with two tries of their own and then a vital try from Charlie Hunn showing great determination to break tackles and reach over the line and score took King’s ahead. Fuller finished them off with a brilliant solo try to close the score at 24-19. The boys were happy to have ended Sacred Heart’s run of wins against us this year and knock them out of qualifying for Condors.
In our last game, 5/6th play-off against St Pauls College with both teams having qualified and the fatigue of the day settling in the team learnt a big lesson about preparing well mentally and the resilience required in these tournaments to front up even with such a quick turnaround between games. St Paul’s took the win 29-5 and will be a team to watch as they had some promising players and will play in the promotion/ relegation game next year to progress to the 1A competition. It was also good to see St Kentigern College field a Senior Team for the first time and qualify.
Notable performances were the outstanding play and kicking from Luca Fuller, the strong running of Jarius Iosefa, the tenacity and determination of Charlie Hunn and the versality and skill of Daniel James-Nanai. Overall, being the first outing and games for the team they showed promising signs of their capability but also the need to play more and gain game knowledge is fundamental in learning the unique game of 7’s Rugby.
Kelston showed they were strides ahead of any other team at the tournament beating St Peters in the final 36-5.
Qualified for Condors from Auckland Secondary Schools: Kelston, SPC, St Kents, De La Salle, St Pauls, King’s.
Scott Palmer
Head of Rugby
