Sevens: Sides exceed great expectations

Bay of Plenty women's player Rian Sanerive in action at the weekend.

The Bay of Plenty men's and women's sevens teams have exceeded expectations at the Bayleys National Sevens in Rotorua, with both teams going deep into the tournament.

Both teams reached the cup semifinals at the weekend, after progressing through pool play on Saturday and the quarter-finals yesterday morning at the Rotorua International Stadium.

However, they fell just short of making a final, with the men losing their semifinal to Waikato (33-0) while the women lost to Auckland (35-10).

Neither Bay side made the semifinals in 2014 and made a good improvement this year.

Waikato went on to win the men's national title and Auckland won the women's title.

Waikato defeated Wellington in the men's final 38-19 while Auckland defeated Manawatu 29-14 in the women's final. Luke Masirewa was the star for Waikato and picked up player of the tournament.

The top 16 men's provinces and top 10 women's provinces from across New Zealand competed at the tournament.

The Bay women lost two of their star players to injury in the week leading up to the nationals and punched above their weight to make the semis.

Bay women's coach Brad Fleming said his team had done themselves proud in the women's division.

"The girls showed a lot of heart and I was really proud to see them all get out there and just give it everything they had, especially today [Sunday].

"We had some really hard games and they just fronted up and I think the Bay public saw that we were giving it a crack and got right in behind us."

The Bay women's side finished second in Pool A on Saturday behind Manawatu. They defeated Wellington (19-14), Taranaki (29-7), Canterbury (22-12) and lost to Manawatu (0-19) before beating Counties Manukau 14-12 to reach the semis yesterday.

Speedster and former Rotorua Boys' High School first XV player Mason Walker was a big part of the Bay men's success, causing havoc every time he touched the ball.

The Bay men topped Pool B on Saturday after defeating Canterbury (28-7), Counties Manukau (24-19), and South Canterbury (14-7). They backed that up with a close win over Northland 17-12 in the quarters.

It was the second year in a row the nationals have been held in Rotorua and a much bigger crowd turned out this year compared to 2014.