The Bay of Plenty men beat Auckland 31-12 in the men's Plate final at the Bayleys National Sevens to finish fifth overall.
Bay of Plenty started the tournament with a bang, beating Mid Canterbury 43-0 in the first round of pool play. They then produced hard-fought victories over powerhouses Canterbury and Auckland, 19-10 and 24-14 respectively, to book a Cup quarter-final against Taranaki.
In the quarter-final they let Taranaki get out to an early lead through try-scoring machine Declan O'Donnell. Bay of Plenty finished strongly, thanks to a Teddy Stanaway hatrick, but they ran out of time and lost 24-17, consigning them to the Plate.
In the Plate semifinal it was Stanaway who opened the scoring, crossing the line in the first 30 seconds, and Bay of Plenty never looked back, cruising to a 26-7 victory to earn a place in the final.
Stanaway, one of the standout players of the tournament, opened the scoring in the final against Auckland. He was put into space on the right-hand side, near halfway, put a kick in for himself, raced around the defender, regathered and scored in the corner.