Far North boys make sevens debut

Several young, upcoming Far North players made their debut for the Northland team at the Waikato Sevens tournament last weekend.

Coach Peter Nock said there was a relatively disappointing field at the Waikato tournament.

The only other side there apart from the hosts (who split into two teams) was North Harbour.

On day one, Northland lost to North Harbour and Waikato A, but beat Waikato B to go into the semi final where it beat North Harbour again and progress into the final where the boys just lost to the top Waikato side.

The four sides jousted again on Sunday with similar results to the first day with, it seemed, little was at stake.

The Northland side was Kyle Thomson, Isaac O'Grady, Ben Uluvula, Adam Simpson, Jayden Leaupepe, Andrew Kaveinga, Ismele Taqea, Taniela Manu, Waisea Lawabuka, Dane Subritzky Clark, Dan Wells, Scott Gregory, Noah Cooper, Josiah Povey and Aorangi Stokes.

Nock noted the Taniwha team for the Waikato campaign was different from the one which took out the plate final at the Auckland 7s tournament on the previous weekend (and featured nine players making their debut with the Northland Sevens).

Northland results in Auckland were: beat North Harbour 14-10 and 24-10, with losses to Canterbury 19-0, Counties 19-7 and Bay of Plenty 17-5.

"Great learnings came out of the [Auckland] tournament and this will add value to the squad in the weeks ahead," said Nock at the time.

The plan is to embark on a one or two-day training camp this weekend to prepare for the regional qualifiers in Cambridge on December 11 where teams can qualify for the national provincial championship tournament in Rotorua in mid-January.

The camp traditionally involves a visit to Tane Mahuta before Nock finalises his squad of 12 for the upcoming regionals and nationals; with about three non-travelling reserves to cover for injuries or unavailability.