The summer of sevens continues this Saturday with the Bay of Plenty Club sevens tournament held at Eastern Districts RFC in Paengaroa.
The tournament is open to all the senior rugby clubs within the Bay of Plenty for both men's and women's teams.
The tournament has attracted clubs from allover the Bay of Plenty as this year sees a record number of team entries, with the men's grade filling up completely with 16 teams. The men's Tight 5 entries have doubled and there is now a new colts grade.
The men's division will play for the Gordon Tietjens Trophy, named after the current NZ Sevens coach and former Bay of Plenty representative. Te Puna has won the past two years.
The women's division will play for the Exia Edwards Trophy. Edwards represented the NZ Black Ferns and has been an important person in rebuilding women's rugby in the Bay of Plenty.
The Arataki women's team, who were last year's recipients, will be defending their title this weekend.
Bay of Plenty Rugby Union operations manager, Neil Alton, said it was fantastic to see so many teams entered which was in line with the union's strategic goal of making the Bay of Plenty the home of sevens.
Food and drink will be available all day. It is free entry with the first games kicking off at 9am. The full draw will be posted on the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union website on Friday morning.
