Havelock North emerge as favourites at Waipukurau tourney

Expect Gillies Kaka to be a marked man at the Hawke's Bay Sevens tournament in Waipukurau today.
The Havelock North centre-winger was the top equal try scorer with six when he played for Hawke's Bay at the national Sevens tournament in Queenstown last month. But Kaka, 19, isn't feeling any extra pressure despite the Villagers making no secret of the fact they are eager to capture the Ian Baker Trophy for the first time in four years.
"A few of the older players are keen to win and we've trained accordingly. Everyone has stepped up at training. Nearly all of the squad has played at nationals at some stage and we know how to take the pressure off each other when required," said Kaka who will be making his first appearance at the Central Park event.
Since the Queenstown nationals, Kaka has played at the Mount Maunganui club Sevens with Havelock and the New Zealand Marist Sevens with Wairoa Celtic.
"The weather wasn't the best at the Mount. Hopefully it will be good tomorrow," he said after completing a training session with the Hawke's Bay Academy squad yesterday.
"Playing with the Wairoa side was a good experience. We went to Wellington with the aim of scoring a try. We did that and although we lost all four games we improved game by game," said Kaka.
With Kaka being joined by fellow 2010 Bay Sevens reps Jason Kupa, Adam Bradey, Zane Rangi and Ihaia West in the Havelock side, SportToday had no hesitation in throwing the favourite's tag the Villagers' way.
"We'll take things game by game. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves," said Kaka.
A son of former Wairarapa Bush midfielder Charlie Kaka and a cousin of All Black and Magpies winger Zac Guildford, Kaka has an extra incentive to up the tempo today. Next month he and fellow Hawke's Bay under-20 representative Star Timu will find out if they will get a final trial for the New Zealand side to attend the under-20 World Cup in Argentina.
"I'm happy with how things are going. I've had a few niggly injuries but I'm a lot fitter than I would have been if I didn't play Sevens," said Kaka who starts a Certificate in Carpentry course at EIT on Monday.
"If I don't make the under-20s I'll aim to become a regular starter in the Havelock North premiers so I can eventually make the Magpies," he added.
While Hawke's Bay premier clubs Taradale, MAC and Napier Pirate Rugby and Sports have opted out this year the quality and quantity of visiting teams from the Hurricanes region more than compensates for their absence.
 There is the best turnout of Manawatu teams in the 27-year history of the event with four in the 21-team men's section, six in the 13-team colts section and one in the six-team women's section.
The progress of the Pacific Warriors in the men's section will be watched with interest. That recently formed Tawa-based side consists of youthful players who have recently arrived in New Zealand from the Pacific Islands.
Defending men's champions Feilding and last year's women's champion Clive are fronting again. Clive will miss the services of regular kingpin Chanel Huddleston who has transferred to Napier Technical with the aim of evening up the women's Sevens and 15-a-side competitions in the Bay.