Counties Manukau celebrate a win in the National Sevens Women's Cup final. Photo / Getty Images
Counties Manukau celebrate a win in the National Sevens Women's Cup final. Photo / Getty Images
After two days of electric sevens action at the Tauranga Domain, the national champions have been crowned.
In the men's Cup it was Waikato who built steadily throughout the tournament before hammering Auckland 29-5 in the final. It is Waikato's eighth national title having won four-in-a-row between 1996-98and again in2010, 2015 and 2018.
In the women's Cup it was Counties Manukau who reigned supreme, producing a narrow 12-5 win over Waikato in the final. It was their second national title having previously won in 2017.
Counties co-captain Hazel Tubic was named women's player of the tournament, a feat she also achieved in 2014 but made all the more sweet this time around with her team getting across the line.
"This is just an award that's a reflection of the team really. Every one of our players out there deserved an accolade as well, you obviously can't do it without the other girls.
"We didn't expect the win but it feels really good to get there, we played really well as a team."
Tubic said an experience the team had during a pre-tournament camp had a real effect on the player and guided them throughout.
"We held a camp last week where we climbed up Mt Pauanui and we brought that into our theme this week, around reaching the summit. We worked hard doing that last week and this weekend we built with each game and we just wanted to reach that summit.
"We had a few key words around that which we looked at before each game to keep the idea fresh in our mind.
"There's a lot of talent throughout the other teams and lots of girls are playing sevens now - it's a growing sport. For us to take the win will give great confidence to our younger girls in the team who are perhaps trying to move on to that international level."
Waikato's Jordan Bunce lifts the trophy after winning the National Sevens Men's Cup final. Photo / Getty Images
Waikato co-captain and men's player of the tournament Liam Coombes-Fabling said his side got better as the tournament progressed and peaked in the final.
"It was a pretty awesome feeling to win the final. All the boys' hard work throughout the last eight weeks, putting in the mahi, it's good to see it finally pay off. I'm just really proud of the boys.
"We were always out there working for each other and improved as the tournament went on so by the end of the final we were playing our best footy and it was great to get across the line."
Waikato's Declan O'Donnell scores a try in the men's final. Photo / Getty Images
He said the national tournament was getting tougher every year.
"There are some awesome teams, we've had great battles with Auckland this year and there were some awesome teams who missed out on the Cup.
"[The player of the tournament award] comes off the back of all our team's work. We're making each other look good, working for each other and it's hard to pick out an individual - our whole team got us there."
