Sevens action gets under way

Northland rugby sevens coach Peter Nock got his first look at the region's talent at the inaugural Kawakawa Steam Sevens Tournament.

While only seven of the expected 13 teams turned up for Saturday's tournament held at Taumarere Rugby Grounds, there was some exciting sevens on offer, despite it being so early in the season.

"This tournament was not a selection tournament as such, but it was an opportunity to see who was around, and keen - and another opportunity for players to be seen," Nock said.

Following JT Thomas' retirement as Northland coach on the back of the 2011 National Sevens Competition in Queenstown, Nock stepped up from assistant coach to fill the position.

The Northland Rugby Union's Rugby and Academy Officer is excited about his stint at the helm and is looking forward to the challenge of getting Northland up to speed with the country's best sevens provinces, he said.

Nock has already been busy this year, organising four selection tournaments in Northland - the Muriwhenua Sevens in Kaitaia on October 29, Hora Hora Sevens on November 5, the Wellsford Sevens on November 12 and the Moerewa Sevens on November 19.

The series of tournaments will enable selectors to assess the talent, as well as give players more game time.

"We're hoping players will buy into what we want to do with the series. Previously we haven't seen enough of the players pre-selection. This year we want to be better prepared ... it's very hard to get sevens fit, so this will be another way to do that ahead of the National Sevens [in January 2012]," Nock said.

A Northland training squad will be selected from the series, and go into camp on November 26, he added.

On Saturday, teams from Muriwhenua, Moerewa, Wellsford, Hikurangi, Waipu, Old Boys and Otamatea turned up at Kawakawa and helped make the tournament a success, despite Western Sharks and Auckland and North Harbour teams withdrawing at the last minute.

Hikurangi stole the show and won the inaugural Kawakawa Steam Sevens title, winning the final 29-5 over Wellsford.

While Tane Takalua nabbed three tries in the final, Northland halfback Rhyan Caine and Hikurangi skipper Troy Raitt directed their troops, and controlled the match. Raitt was delighted with the win.

"We hadn't trained. We rang the guys a couple of days ago and managed to pull a team together.

"We're going to try to stick to that for next year," he joked.

Hikurangi coach Hector Davies said the team did not have any real pace without two key speedsters, so the game came down to tactics.

"We had to be smart about our game plan and play really tight," Davies said. He also gave credit to forwards Brad Christensen and Matt White, for their consistency, and club veteran Eric Abraham.

"You need a real hard-nosed, hard nut, and he's just got a massive ticker. He's in the twilight of his years as a player, but he's an icon and the boys just follow him.

"The club had a bit of a disappointing year last season, so this is a good start to the 2012 season. We absolutely hope to carry it on."

Meanwhile, the cup final saw Old Boys defeat Moerewa 21-19, while Otamatea convincingly defeated Muriwhenua 24-0, to win the plate.

Kawakawa Steam Sevens organisers - Kawakawa Business Association, Bay of Islands Vintage Railway Trust and Northland Referees Association - were disappointed with the turnout of teams and spectators, but planned to make the event an annual one.