THE Whanganui sevens team competed strongly against the big boys in coming eighth place with a plate semifinal appearance at the Bay of Plenty sevens tournament in Mount Manganui on Saturday.
A new-look team with three changes from the side who qualified for the nationals at the Levin regional tournament in December, Whanganui hung in there with Mitre 10 Cup union sides Waikato and Bay of Plenty, while hammering the only other Heartland team, Poverty Bay, in pool play. That put them into the second-tier finals against a full strength Auckland team, fresh off winning the Northern regional qualifier, and Whanganui could sniff an upset until the final minute, when they lost a player to the sin bin and gave away two tries.
Coach Tom Wells will wait until tomorrow night's training to pick his final squad of 12 from the 14 players to go on to the Bayleys National Sevens in Rotorua this weekend.
He is leaving the selection late to confirm the status of captain Dane Whale, who was the goalkicker and one of the team's leading tryscorers in Mount Manganui, but needs x-rays after suffering a chipped collarbone.
"He's confident [he'll play]," Wells said. "He wants it more than anyone, so we'll give him as much time as we can."