The spectacular sport of Beach 5s rugby has built a huge following in Europe and South America and has quickly taken a sandy foothold on New Zealand beaches.
It returns to Mount Main Beach in January for the second Beach 5s NZ tournament. The first leg will be held here on Saturday, January 17 and the second at Mission Bay in Auckland on Sunday, February 8.
Beach 5s NZ has a strong social flavour with emphasis on Presidents teams aged 35+ and open men's club teams. Both events coincide with pre-season club rugby and the fun day on the sand is seen as a great opportunity for clubs to get their teams together, check players' fitness and engage in team bonding just before the season starts. Event organiser Melita Martorana is keen on the social aspect of the tournaments.
"Sevens has become very high-performance now with a pathway to Olympic fame, but beach rugby is still a great day on the beach, under the sun, having fun playing our amazing sport," she said.
"We will be looking to partner with some international events next year and Kiwi teams might fly and play beach rugby in some exotic locations in the future. At the moment we are focused on spreading the word of beach rugby in New Zealand," Martorana said.
