Kaierau's Karl Pascoe clearing the Ngamatapouri defence to score in the 2017 Wanganui Club Sevens final in Marton.
Kaierau's Karl Pascoe clearing the Ngamatapouri defence to score in the 2017 Wanganui Club Sevens final in Marton.
Eight teams will be vying for the title of Wanganui Club Sevens champions at Marton Park Saturday morning.
Of the squads who entered last season's eight team tournament, Ratana and Marton are not fielding sides this year, while Marist returns after their absence in 2017.
Kaierau, who are the defendingchampions after their 'A' team upset Ngamatapouri in last year's final, are again entering two teams – Maroon and Gold – while Taihape, also perennial contenders after coming runnerup three times, have also entered two squads to make up the numbers.
Kaierau Maroon and two-time champions Ngamatapouri are seeded at the top of their respective pools.
Since the introduction of this incarnation of club sevens, they are the only two clubs to win the title, with Kaierau claiming the inaugural 2014 crown before the Ngamatapouri club was formed, and then the South Taranaki side carried it off in 2015-16.
After using a semifinal format in the past tournaments, this year only the two pool winners will play off in a straight championship final, with the remaining teams meeting their opposite number from the other pool, based on results.
This means they will all play four games in a day instead of a maximum of five.
After Marton Park hosted a regional invitational women's tournament for the past two years, this time it is just Manawatu and Wellington who have entered teams, so they will play each other in a best of three games format.
Games start at 10am and the tournament will conclude around 2pm.
Field 1: 10am: Kaierau Maroon vs Border; 10.20am: Pirates vs Kaierau Gold; 10.40am: Manawatu vs Wellington; 11am: Taihape (2) vs Border; 11.20am: Kaierau Maroon vs Marist; 11.40am: Manawatu v Wellington; 12pm: Kaierau Gold vs Ngamatapouri; 12.20pm: Taihape (1) vs Pirates; 12.40pm: Manawatu vs Wellington; 1pm: Pool A 3rd vs Pool B 3rd; 1.20pm: Winners Pool vs Winners Pool B.
Field 2: 10am: Ngamatapouri vs Taihape (1); 10.20am: Marist vs Taihape (2); 11am: Taihape (1) vs Kaierau Gold; 11.20am: Ngamatapouri vs Pirates; 12pm: Kaierau Maroon vs Taihape (2); 12.20pm: Border vs Marist; 12.40pm: Pool A 4th vs Pool B 4th; 1pm: Pool A 2nd vs Pool B 2nd.
