A nail-biter of a final between Marist and Kamo wrapped up a successful Wellsford Rugby Sevens Tournament.
Saturday's tournament at Wellsford Rugby Club was the third of four consecutive tournaments held in the region, enabling Northland selectors to choose their strongest squad to train for the national sevens in January.
Although four of the expected 16 teams pulled out last week, the competition was tough, with some exciting sevens being played across the park.
Whangarei Districts Sevens champions Marist were the side to beat after dominating the opponents at Old Boys last week.
Once again, they turned out their strongest contingent, who were fast, physical and dangerous in space. Marist easily defeated Tomarata and Mid Western in pool play, and faced the Spartens team. Marist dominated winning 29-0 and went on to beat a promising Moerewa team 26-5 in the semifinals knockout. Kamo cruised through pool play, reaching the semifinal knockout stage after beating the host club in the quarters 31-7.
While Kerikeri put up a fight in the semis, Kamo pipped them 24-14, setting up a Cup final between two confident sevens teams.
The final was a close and fraught battle throughout.
Kamo had Marist under pressure early in the game but Marist maintained a 12-5 lead at halftime, despite losing key playmaker Billy Seveti to two minutes in the sinbin.
He did not return as he had suffered a concussion.
Kamo put Marist under pressure in the second spelllevelled at 12-12 on full time. After an intense few minutes of extra time Marist got awarded a penalty at a breakdown. Jone Seveti offered to try for a penalty kick and successfully landed a drop goal which handed Marist the 15-12 win. Kamo's Mac Sykes was named player of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Tomarata beat Otamatea 19-12 to win the Plate final and Hikurangi convincingly defeated Mid Western 28-7 in the Shield final.
