Sevens: The Te Puke High School girls' sevens team showed their dominance of the BOP Secondary School Sevens circuit, taking out the BOP Under-19 title in fine style at Grenada Park last weekend. The day started well for the boys with a strong performance against Aquinas College, before competing well but going down to tournament favourites Rotorua Boys' High. After another win and a loss, they took on Western Heights High School in the Bowl semifinal. Again they fought hard but it was not to be.
It was a different story altogether for the girls. They beat Rotorua Girls' 38-0 before Tauranga Girls' and Cambridge High were both dispatched in a similar fashion, with our team finishing pool play unbeaten to set up a final against Tauranga Girls'. TPHS scored straight from kick-off and minutes later they were in for another try. It was all one-way traffic from that point onward with the Te Puke going on to win 24-5. With the BOP Secondary Schools Sevens trophy secured, the team now look ahead to the Condor National Sevens tournament in early December as they work towards a national title.
Volleyball: TPHS has made a great start to Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools junior competition. At the end of preliminary competition, the Junior A girls' had won five out of six games. That placed them fifth out of 32 teams and in the top five of Division One. The Junior A boys' managed to secure a spot in the second five of Division One. The school also has a young Year 9 girls' team competing in the development grade. Round One competition saw the Junior A girls' have a stunning upset win over the number one seeded team of Otumoetai College. They then went on to narrowly lose to Tauranga Girls'. It proves that the girls are capable of competing with the best teams in the area which tend to go on and dominate the North Island competition. Team captain Hannah Simmons has been a positive leader and will trial for the BOP team. Three other girls in the team have also been asked to trial.
