Rugby: Rangataua set to tackle flying Fijians

All Blacks Sevens player Matt Clutterbuck will be a key asset for Rangataua in Fiji. Photo / File

An excited group of sevens players from a small club in Maungatapu are about to take on the best club sides in Fiji and Oceania.

Rangataua Sports Club will fly the New Zealand flag at the fifth Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens to be held over three days in Sigatoka, Fiji, starting next Thursday.

The tournament features 24 men's and 16 women's teams at one of the premier sevens events outside the IRB World Series.

Rangataua won the right to play in Fiji, as well as at last week's Central Coast Sevens in Australia, by winning the Middlesex Club Sevens national title in Pakuranga in January.

Since then it has been an epic challenge for club administrators to find the money to get the team to two international tournaments. They did it through the goodwill of the Tauranga business community, eager fundraising by club members and the expertise of team manager Rapata Ririnui.

Rangataua performed with distinction at the Central Coast Sevens, losing narrowly to Fijian teams Red Rock and Daveta.

Team coach and former All Blacks Sevens captain Matua Parkinson says they led Red Rock, the 2010 and 2012 Coral Coast Sevens champions, 14-0 in the Cup quarterfinal before some unforced errors proved costly.

"We knew we could not throw 50-50 passes and unfortunately that is exactly what happened in the last two minutes of the game," said Parkinson.

"You just can't give Fijians time and space to pay their game or else you are never going to beat them, as they are too good, too fit and too fast. We got off to a really good start, controlling possession and putting pressure on them when they had the ball. We should have held them in the second half but for simple, basic passes that got away."

Rangataua are in Pool C with Naviti, Wardens Green and the Suva Stallions.

Parkinson is not pre-empting anything, as he knows from past experience that any Fijian team is capable of winning.

"Wardens have beaten the Fijian national team and any of their teams will be tough, especially because they would love to tip us over.

"But we are not going over there to make our lunch or get a sun tan, so we will be doing our best."

The international entries include Samoan champions Lauli'i Lions, Serevi Selects from Seattle, coached by sevens legend Waisale Serevi, and the Papua New Guinea men's team who are looking to prepare for the IRB Sevens tournaments in Wellington and Hong Kong in early 2015.