AN understrength Wanganui Sevens team gave a good account of themselves at their first tournament hit-out in Te Kuiti on Saturday. Playing in the King Country-organised four-team tournament, Wanganui won all three of their pool games before losing the final to the hosts 22-5 in very wet conditions.
Wanganui hadbeaten King Country 17-12 in their first game in the morning, then Hamilton Boys' High School 35-0 and Thames Valley 34-10 to finish as top qualifier.
The team was captained by Dane Whale but was missing some key players with Samu Kubunavanua injured and others like former New Zealand Sevens representative Trinity Spooner-Neera attending the Christmas Parade with the rest of the Steelform Wanganui Heartland Championship team.
"We fell off in the final, we had a few injuries," said senior player Kieran Hussey. "We had 11 guys and the rest of the teams had 15, it caught us up at the end."
Standout Jaye Flaws tweaked his knee and then picked up a head knock to miss the last game. Tyler Rogers-Holden opened up a lot of play while Tremaine Gilbert and Ben Whale had plenty of carries for the team. Having beaten two Heartland union teams in pool play, Hussey is hopeful the reinforced squad can give a good account of themselves at the Central Sevens in Levin next month.
The tournament will host about nine union teams from the Hurricanes region, with the top five teams qualifying for next year's Bayleys National Sevens in Rotorua.
Last year the resurrected Wanganui team missed out of qualification for Rotorua because of drawn games with Poverty Bay and Horowhenua-Kapiti, which they had been leading. They should be encouraged that both Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa Bush qualified for the nationals at the expense of Hawke's Bay, with Taranaki, Wellington and Manawatu filling the other spots. "This year I feel we're a bit stronger," said Hussey. "Hopefully after having that bit of experience, we can finish in that top five and go to nationals."
The team will play two more practice matches this Thursday against Wanganui High School and Feilding Agricultural High School, who in turn are preparing for the upcoming BNZ Condor Sevens.
