Sevens: Mount win second tourny in a row

Mason Walker scored two tries and kicked thee conversions to help Mount Maunganui Sports win the Greerton Marist Sevens on Saturday.

Mount Maunganui Sports made it two titles from the opening two tournaments of the summer of sevens after taking out the Greerton Marist Sevens on Saturday.

The Paul Tietjens-coached Mount side defeated an improved Te Puke Sports outfit 26-17 in the championship final after trailing 17-7 two minutes into the second half.

But the superior speed of Jesse Dodunski and Mason Walker proved the difference in the final few minutes as they crossed for well-taken tries to take the match out.

Te Puke's Eru Oakes impressed with his finishing ability and eye for a gap to score two tries which was matched by a brace each from Mount's match winners Walker and Dodunski.

Alex Thrupp also crossed the try line for Te Puke Sports.

Tietjens said his boys had to dig deep to overcome Te Puke in the second spell after falling behind.

"It took a full team squad, with players coming off the bench, to win that. We did it the hard way," he said.

"I just felt, if we got a bit of ball and were a bit more composed, we could really get into the game and we did that and put a few points on them when we started to look after the ball.

"It was really, really pleasing. That's two tournaments in a row, so the boys are pretty chuffed, but the biggest one for us is in two weeks at the Bay champs in Paengaroa.

"This was my first time as a coach to come here to Greerton. It is a good tournament they put on here and good to see the rugby getting spread around the Bay with clubs here from Rotorua and Whakatane," Tietjens said.

"Obviously the concern is in the 15s game, with the lack of players in the central and eastern regions, but it is good to see them putting sevens teams in to build their programmes at their clubs."

Earlier in the Championship semifinals, Mount beat Whakatane Marist 26-7 and Te Puke were too good for Mahurangi by 24-0. Waikite won the Plate final by 47-7 over St Michael's in an all-Rotorua affair, with Fiji Sevens international Abbo Toroca scoring one of the tries of the day.

Tauranga Sports beat Greerton Marist 3 in the Bowl final with credit to the host club for fielding three teams, with one a very late-starter after Manurewa pulled out through a lack of players.