2016-2017 provincial & club sevens
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Southern Region Qualifier
Women
1st: Canterbury
2nd: Otago
3rd: Ta$man
4th: Southland
5th: South CanterburyWomen's Results:
Cup Final
Canterbury 14 - Otago 123rd and 4th Play Off:
Ta$man 33 - Southland 12Qualified for the National 7s: Canterbury, Otago and Ta$man.
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Southern Region Qualifier
Men
1st: Ta$man
2nd: Otago
3rd: Canterbury
4th: South Canterbury
5th: Southland
6th: North Otago
7th: Mid CanterburyMen's Results:
Cup Final
Ta$man 11 - Otago 53rd and 4th Play Off:
Canterbury 45 - South Canterbury 55th and 6th Play Off:
Southland 10 - North Otago 5Qualified for the National 7s: Ta$man, Otago, Canterbury, South Canterbury and Southland.
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Zac is making a comeback in Waikato sevens, and potentially in the NPC next year.
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@Bovidae said in 2016-2017 provincial & club sevens:
Zac is making a comeback
A sentence never seen before.
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@Bovidae Good on him for not giving up and Roger Randle for taking him under his wing. I hope it works out well. I watched several Wai-Bush games this year and he was way too good for that level. Playing centre whole season, so Waikato could use him at 11, 13, 14 and 15 next Mitre 10 Cup season if he gets selected. Will be interesting to see how he does in sevens. Apart from a few tournaments in Oct-Nov, it must be quite a few years since he played sevens.
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Article: Biggest Condor Sevens Ever To Enthral Auckland This Weekend
Another is the tournament format; with the 24-team field of previous years teams that finished second in their three-team pool had an opportunity to still make the Cup field when matched up against a pool winner in the round of 16 at the end of the first day. With the expansion to 32 only the pool winners will progress through, so a loss in pool play could very well be fatal to a side’s hopes of glory.
Boys The boys field is headed up by two schools that qualified for the national XV’s Top Four. Hastings Boys’ High School may have dipped out then to Mount Albert Grammar School, but have perhaps been the form team of the year and will be targeting this weekend to get the championship they will feel they deserve, while third-placed Hamilton Boys High will be looking to retain this title after being a class above in winning it last year. However they only managed to finish third in the Waikato qualifiers, and owe their place at the nationals to the expanded field.
Aside from those above, other teams that bring a reputation to the tournament include Rotorua Boys’ High School and Wellington’s St Patrick’s duo Town and Silverstream while you can’t count out the hosts Sacred Heart. The South Island trio of Christchurch, Otago, and Timaru Boys will seek to become only the second school (after Aranui High) to take the title south over Cook Strait. The notable absentee is national 15’s champions MAGS, who despite qualifying have chosen to not to compete, citing the absence of a couple of leading players and tiredness among the squad after a long season.
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Are the pools for the Condor 7s random or seeded?
I read that MAGS opted not to participate as too many of their best players had left. Actually looking at the pools, none of the top Auckland schools are taking part, while plenty of SI schools have had to travel north. Not a good look.
Edit: Maybe they didn't qualify?
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@Bovidae said in 2016-2017 provincial & club sevens:
Are the pools for the Condor 7s random or seeded?
I read that MAGS opted not to participate as too many of their best players had left. Actually looking at the pools, none of the top Auckland schools are taking part, while plenty of SI schools have had to travel north. Not a good look.
Edit: Maybe they didn't qualify?
See my previous post, and:
One talking point going into the event is the seeding method adopted by the tournament organisers, which seems to have been based on where a particular school finished last year, or where the school from their region (if not the same) did. That has led to a seemingly bizarre scenario where small Nelson school Garin College are seeded ninth while Otago Boys’ High School are listed last; albeit Otago haven’t made the long trek north in the past couple of years.
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The notable absentee is national 15’s champions MAGS, who despite qualifying have chosen to not to compete, citing the absence of a couple of leading players and tiredness among the squad after a long season.
Tiredness? They are kids FFS and how many weeks has it been since they last played?
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A lot of the elite Auckland schools, like Kents, Kings and Grammar, have historically avoided the tournament due to clashing with exams. Principals are conscious that their 1st XV boys are often the ones most needing to keep their heads in the books at this time of year.
Condors has also clashed with touch nationals and athletics nationals. Next year it will be moved to a different weekend in December so kids don't have to choose which event they want to appear at.
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Saw some really good games, of both boys and girls teams. It's amazing how much talent there is in NZ at this level.
I have already spewed my frustration about the officiating in the Hastings v Tauranga game in the Shield Snorters thread, but boy, the ref probably kicked Hastings out of the finals, not Tauranga. -
@Stargazer Ham BHS only qualified as the 3rd and last-placed Waikato school so did really well to win back-to-back Condor titles.
I thought Ham GHS put in a good effort too after losing their 2 star players from last year. Both are now in the NZ sevens squad. Some of those SMC girls looked like very good prospects.
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The Central Zone Regional Sevens Tournament will be played on Saturday, 10 December, at Playford Park, Levin.
Pools and draw:
Edit: this is a revised version of the revised version of the revised draw, due to teams pulling out (incl. East Coast Men's and Women's team).
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Again, it looks like we only get to see the play-offs. Live on Sky Sport 2 from 3pm and delayed on the Rugby Channel from 5pm.
It's a pity they don't broadcast all games, as they're already there anyway. It's not like there's anything more interesting on, particularly, Sky Sport 2 (unless you'd like to watch two repeats of the US PGA tour H/L) and they usually take quite a few commentators to these tournaments.