Hawke's Bay Sevens
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Does anyone know the team playing in the BOP sevens this weekend?
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@Stockcar86 No, I tried to find it as well. Either it will be in tomorrow's HBT or we'll never find out. HBRU are shit in communication.
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Final pool game of the BOP 7s:
Hawke's Bay v North Harbour: 24 to 10.If my quick calculations are right, both the Bay and Manawatu have the same number of log points. It looks like the number of tries is going to decide whether the Bay or Manawatu progresses to the Cup semi, or will play the Plate semi instead. They'll also need to be the best placed number 2 to reach the Cup semi.
Waikato finish first in the pool, Harbour last.
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Both Hawke's Bay and Manawatu missed out on the Cup semis and ended up playing each other in the Plate semis.
Manawatu won that game 26-24.This means that the Bay share the 7th place with one of the two participating teams from BOP (out of 12 teams).
Still haven't seen any team line-up, so I don't know whether the strongest possible team played today. Hopefully not.
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Hawke's Bay teams for the National 7s this weekend:
Men: Damien Scott, Billy Ropiha, Matt Garland, Tamati Samuels, Hayden Hann, Neria Fomai, Mason Emerson, Jeriah Mua, Trent Hape, Tane McGuire, Cole Eru, Ricky Hayes
Women: Laurae Blake, Nina Pineaha-Hyslop, Teilah Ferguson, Shaylee Tipiwai (c), Hope Hakopa, Felicity Powdrell, Niamh Jefferson, Trisha Hina, Kate Bradshaw, Sulieti Halafihi, Abbey Collier, Jaimee Edwards
Good to see we got Billy Ropiha back from the AB7s. I vaguely remember (but may be wrong) Joe Penitito getting injured at the Central Zone qualifier; he's not in the squad, which is a big loss.
Guildford is co-captain for Waikato. Such a pity he isn't playing for us.
Go Emerson, this must be your weekend! Get those short legs running ...
First and third men's game will probably be televised:
10:45am v N Harbour
1:05pm v Southland
3:35pm v WaikatoThe 2nd women's game may be televised as well:
11:05am v Wellington
2:35pm v BOP
4:55pm v Auckland -
@Stargazer Looking at the mens team, are there actually any forwards players in the squad?
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@Stockcar86 I think that loan player from Otago, Damien Scott, is a forward? Jeriah Mua is a flanker in XVs. From what I've read in the HBT, Ricky Hayes has played at lock, loosie and 2nd 5/8 for NOBM; don't know where he played for the HB U19s.
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Convincing first win from the Bay men. Emerson scored 3 tries, Fomai and Ropiha both scored one. Conversions by Samuels.
Some interesting kicking from Ropiha during the game; wonder whether he picked that up during AB7s training.
The Bay women are probably now being slaughtered by Wellington. Expect a big defeat; hope for better.
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Hawke's Bay women lose to Wellington 0-41.
Our men beat Southland 24 to 21, but were behind at half time (12-14), so this suggests a close game.
Waikato has also won both their games, so I guess the Bay will finish at least 2nd in their pool and qualify for the Cup Quarter Final!
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This seems to become another forgettable tournament for the Bay.
After losing 5 - 28 to Waikato yesterday, the men's team lost their Cup QF against Counties Manukau without scoring any points: 0 - 22. Looks like the "missing tackles" disease has spread to sevens. They will now take on Ta$man in the Plate SF (2.35pm).
The women lost their Bowl SF against Ta$man: 0 - 15 and will play Harbour in the 11th/12th place play-off (not televised). Never expected much from the women's team because they've been off the grid for years and this is a team for which they had to get one player out of retirement and get two loan players from Poverty Bay to be able to field a team. Consequence of lack of any interest and stupid decisions from the union, which made players walking off to league and other sports in droves the last few years.
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At least they qualified for the Nationals this year.
Emerson did his NZ chances no damage with a pretty good performance all tourney.
With realistically only 3 class players (Emerson, Ropiha, Garland) it is pretty hard to win games considering the depth of some of the other teams.
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Emerson scored an excellent try in the last game, which they lost 7-14 to Ta$man. Definitely put his hand up for higher honours. Small man, but with the heart of a lion (not of the Wellington variety, obviously) and the legs of a cheetah.
I agree with you about the team, @Stockcar86, although I must say that young Trent Hape is promising. He did shine at the Condor 7s and did really well for such a young lad. Hopefully, he'll have another good year at HBHS.
The women also lost their last game v North Harbour, but at least they scored a few points this time: 12 - 29.
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@Number-10 Falcon must have returned from the Brisbane Tens straight back to Havelock North for this weekend's tournament. I liked what I saw when he played in the Canes jersey, so not surprised he's this weekend's MVP.
Good prospect for this year's NZ U20s, even if Peter Umaga-Jensen is not injured for a change.
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I hope he will be selected and gets game time. Surprised/disappointed that Emerson didn't get a call-up for the 7s camp in Mt Maunganui, unless that's due to Mitre 10 Cup commitments (like Koroi & Otago).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503460&objectid=11856523
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Time to pick up this topic again.
Today are the Napier OBM Invitational 7s at Tremain Field. Apparently, this tournament is now a qualifier for the National Club 7’s (Middlesex Country Wavell Wakefield Cup).
Interestingly, I just read in the HBT that Ellery Wilson is the new Hawke's Bay Sevens coach, together with Mark Ozich. Wilson is also the organiser of today's tournament. Not sure whether that means his playing days are over?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503460&objectid=11945230
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Thanks for posting the link. Not quite sure how to interpret the comment re the Axemen's "surprise semi-final defeat last year". Does it mean it was a surprise they lost or a surprise they made it that far? As someone that lives in a place with a panoramic birdseye view of their home ground (as well as spending far too much time down there) last year's result should be regarded as the latter as it was really just the first year of a rebuilding phase. I was down at the club on Thursday and it looks like they could well be travelling up without the four guys they currently have in the Wellington Representative 7s training group nevertheless either way I still hope my Texans deal to them in their Pool D clash which will leave me in an interesting position next time I am down there! They do have former Te Aute player Te Aranga Hakiwai and Joe Reid of Ngati Kahununu lineage (on his mothers side) amongst their lineup so they are players the Park Island spectators might recognize. Keep us informed of the results if you get a chance thanks.
