Manukura sixth at Condor sevens

The young Manukura girls stepped up to the challenge of their first Condors sevens tournament with an admirable sixth place finish yesterday.

The Janna Vaughan-coached side exploded out of the gates at the national secondary schools sevens tournament by going unbeaten on the first day of the tournament.

They tipped up Rotorua Girls’ High School 21-7, Long Bay College 47-10 and Howick College 21-19 in pool play.

That saw them up against Motueka High School in the cup quarterfinals where they fell 12-0.

Vaughan said the side’s lack of experience was exposed in the match.

They bounced back to beat Southern Cross Campus 35-12 in the plate semifinals, but went on to lose in a rematch with Howick 20-14 in the plate final.

Vaughan was proud of the performance of the squad.

‘‘The first time being in a big tournament was quite tough, but the girls didn’t give up. We have not been established that long so we did well to be top six in the country,’’ she said.

The standouts were Carys Dallinger and hooker Isabella Rewiri-wharerau.

Hamilton Girls’ High School beat Christchurch Girls’ High School 20-5 to claim the girls title.

Meanwhile the Feilding High School boys finished 11th after being knocked out in the plate semifinals.

With the boys competition running eight pools, only the top side from each pool made it to the top half of the draw.

Feilding started well with wins over Western Heights College (33-5) and Manurewa College (26-10) to set up an effective knock-out match against Timaru Boys’ High School in the final match.

But Timaru picked up the 28-19 win leaving Feilding to contest the plate.

They beat Nelson College 14-10 in the quarterfinal, before falling to Rotorua Boys’ High School in the semifinal 24-0.

Co-coach Mark Mcalley said he was pleased with the effort of the side and believed the exposure to a higher level of rugby was beneficial for the younger members of the squad.

Griffin Culver was Feilding’s best along with Tyler Moaeu, who played hard in the midfield.

Hamilton Boys’ High School beat Scots College 26-10 to claim the boys title.

In the under-15s competition, the Feilding High School boys claimed the bowl after beating Taupo 10-7 in the final and the Feilding girls won the shield with a 27-5 win over Tauranga in the final.

Palmerston North Boys’ High School finished their tournament with a win in the consolation bowl final 26-12 over Lindisfarne.