WOMEN'S SEVENS: Bay women to fore in Rome tourney win

A Hawke's Bay-dominated Aotearoa side won the women's section of the Rome Sevens tournament at the weekend.
Clive's world champion Black Fern Amy Williams scored two tries and kicked two conversions as Aotearoa beat France 19-5 in the final. Napier Technical's Chanel Huddleston scored Aotearoa's other try.
Another of Clive's world champion Black Ferns, Claire Richardson, and Hastings Rugby and Sports Julie Ferguson, who captained the Aotearoa team, all started in the final. Aotearoa beat Italy 27-5 in the semifinals and in pool play Russia 47-0 and Spain 17-7.
``It was an awesome experience,'' Huddleston told SportToday before the Bay quartet started their journey home yesterday.
While this quartet were on international duty, four other Hawke's Bay players made the most of their opportunities playing in the Auckland-hosted Black Ferns trials. They were Napier Pirate Rugby and Sports loose forwards Shaan Waru and Te Aroha Hunt, Napier Technical No 8 Charlotte Scanlan and former Black Ferns prop Kathleen Wilton, who plays for Eketahuna, despite living in the Bay.
Hawke's Bay Tuis coach Cheryl Heremia said Waru did not get too many attacking opportunities but had a huge defensive work rate. Nineteen-year-old Hunt enhanced her reputation as a player-of-the-future, despite being shorter than most of the loosies she was up against and former Manawatu representative Scanlan also had a high work rate.