Hikurangi at full stretch to hold out Mid Western

Hikurangi survived a late surge by Mid Western to win the Whangarei and Districts Rugby Sevens Tournament for the second year on end.
Hikurangi snatched an early lead in Saturday's final at Hora Hora Rugby Club, led ably by Troy Raitt, who organised both defence and attack from his position of sweeper at the back.
Trailing Hikurangi 12-5 at the break, Mid Western heaped on the pressure in the second half, attacking relentlessly and with three minutes remaining, Brooke Gilmore managed to cross the chalk and close the gap to 12-10.
Mid Western continued pressing Hikurangi, but they held them off from scoring, defending their title down to the wire.
Both teams battled out close semifinals to progress through to the final of the annual tournament, organised by Old Boys' Mike Lee.
In the first semifinal, Mid Western, fresh on the back of a win at the Moerewa Sevens Tournament last weekend, faced Mid Northern. Mid Northern were tied in their group with Old Boys and Muriwhenua at the end of pool play but got through on a try count.
Again the game came down to the bitter end, with Mid Western dashing Mid Northern's hopes of a championship final berth by scoring in the last play of the game to win 22-17.
Hikurangi played Hora Hora in the second semifinal, with Hikurangi narrowly pipping the host club 12-7. Hikurangi also dotted the ball down in the final phase.
Sixteen teams from Whangarei and surrounding districts signed on for the tournament which was pleasing for organiser Lee.
"All teams fronted and did their bit and the day went very smoothly.
"There was some strong competition out there - no team embarrassed themselves and some punched above their weight such as Waipu," he said.
Waipu were in Hikurangi's group alongside Kamo and Dargaville Old Boys but played wisely to make it into the cup final before going down to Otamatea 26-19. Wellsford beat Marist 24-22 to win the plate final while Tomarata defeated Dargaville Old Boys 26-12 to take out the bowl final.
Northland Sevens selectors JT Thomas and Peter Nock were at Saturday's tournament as well as the Moerewa Sevens, and have named a wider training squad to prepare for the National Pub Charity Sevens Tournament in Queenstown on January 8-9.
The squad will play in several tournaments before 12 are selected to play for Northland at Queenstown.
Northland Sevens wider training squad: Thomas Tamani, Toby Philips, Boyd Flavell (Otamatea), Brook Gilmore, Saxon Samuels, Adam Clarke, Dan McCully, Ben Berridge, Ana Vette-Walsh (Mid Western), Bronson Waaka, Beau Dickens (Marist), Rori Brown (Waipu), Reece Te Nana, Kadin Te Nana, Nat Jull (Moerewa), Troy Lobendan, Jake Wainwright (Kerikeri), Kane Rudolph (Whangaruru), Reece Lavavasau (Hikurangi), Matt Harrison, Kurt Benny (Whangarei Old Boys), Tom Losefa, Tala Moli (Muriwhenua), Hunia Kingi, Iwi Hauraki, Mac Sykes (Kamo), Steven Tane, Tane Takulua, Sefa Mafi (Western Sharks), Logan Wyent, Rukuwai Waaka (Hora Hora), John Coco (Wellsford).