Westlake Boys Senior and U15 7s Rugby teams claimed the North Harbour schools title in their respective age groups at North Harbour Secondary Schools 7’s Tournament hosted at Silverdale RFC on Saturday 17th October. Winning this competition ensures that the Westlake teams will be a part of the Condor 7s National Tournament held early December.
Westlake Boys Senior 7s Rugby
After a long break following the 15’s season the senior boys have had a slow build up to the sevens campaign. A mini tournament during the holidays organised by Mr McKerrow focused the boys and allowed the coaches to identify the players who have made the adjustment to the shorter form of the game the best.
The boys had a scratchy start in our first game against Kaipara College where they demonstrated they were still very much in the 15’s mind set, characterised by a series of pick and goes on the Kaipara line by no less than five players. After some carefully chosen words at half time and a number of personnel changes the boys were able to pull away from Kaipara by using the width and attacking space finishing the match with a 14-7 win.
The second pool game posed our toughest challenge against a Massey High School side, fresh from an overseas tour. While they too were still finding their combinations, they were able to secure early possession through their up this deficit by half time and through some slick handling the team managed to edge out Massey in the final quarter of the game taking the win 14-5.
In the final pool game against Rangitoto College our boys put what they had learnt into practice and played structured disciplined 7’s, using width and attacking space. Had it not been for Rangitoto’s scrambling defence, we would have scored numerous tries in the first half. As it was, our boys were able to compile a handy lead at the break and built on this in the second half, allowing Mr McKerrow to clear the bench and prepare for the knock out stages. Westlake 40 – Rangitoto College 7.
In the semi-final against the second placed team in Pool A, Orewa College were blown off the pitch as the boys gained possession and found space at will. The route was capped off by a 60 metre dash by Ammon Moller sealing the 47-7 victory.
In the final it was to be Massey again after they edged out Rosmini College in the other semi-final. It was also to be a repeat of the Under 15 final mirroring that game in many ways, including the 19-12 score line. Taka Makara sealing the win in the final minutes with a sprint from the halfway line down the left side of the field in front of the packed club room balcony.
Westlake Boys U15 7s Rugby
On the back of a successful Hurricanes Tournament Westlake’s U15 boys re-assembled for the North Harbour Secondary Schools 7’s Tournament. The team, coached by Mr Fraser Brown and Mr Will Gage-Brown, put in some good practices leading up to the event and were well prepared for the day.
The first two games saw our team race out to impressive wins of 38-0 against Rangitoto College, followed by a further 38-0 against Mahurangi College. Jackson Tu’inukuafe made a fine return from injury running in four tries. Jarod Ferguson knocked over a good many conversions and with a total of 37 points was the highest points scorer of the tournament. Caleb McDonald showed his great league skills – defending well man-on-man and protecting the ball in contact.
The Semi-Final lined up to be one of our toughest games, with Kaipara College scoring first and testing our boys’ composure under pressure. Tiennan Costley broke free and took off down the side-line to put us back in the game. We eventually stretched our lead with a try to Cale Tu’inukuafe, winning 17-7. The win propelled us into the final against Massey High School.
Westlake 5A players Sean Vete, Tom Hemmington, and Max Tu’inukuafe were out to settle the score against the 15A side 5th grade Champions. The pressure was on. Ben Mitchell opened the scoring but Massey were quickly back in the game with a return try. Dylan Chesney, along with fellow year 9 student Jack Robertson, showed next year’s team is looking promising. He finished a good team try to keep us in the lead. After Massey returned fire it was Ben Mitchell who once again summoned the energy in a sprint to the line. With the score at 19-12 we were still vulnerable to a counter attack. It was all up to Captain Finlay Brewis (1st XV prop) to charge down their runaway winger to save the day, and that he did to hand Westlake the victory. Westlake was back as North Harbour Champions again.