Famous five wins for Manawatu¯
The legacy of the Manawatu¯ women’s sevens team keeps growing with another national title in the bag.
Manawatu¯ beat Waikato 12-7 in the national championship final at Tauranga on Sunday to win their fifth national title in seven years.
It was another dominant display from Manawatu¯ , as they went through the two days unbeaten, then showed gritty defence to win the final.
Manawatu¯ coach Mike Pettman was beaming after the win.
‘‘We talk about the legacy of this team, being in seven finals in seven years. It’s only a short little history, but it’s something pretty special.
‘‘We just wanted to go out and have a performance we could be proud of. It’s nice making the final again – you don’t want to be the coach who doesn’t make the final.
‘‘But these girls are pretty special.’’
Manawatu¯ led 12-7 at halftime in the final after tries from Selica Winiata and Sam Tipene, and then put in a big defensive effort in a scoreless second half.
They had to survive with Tipene getting sin-binned for a deliberate knockdown and they lost the explosive Rebekah Tufuga, who broke her leg while on her way to the try line in the first half. ‘‘She was saying ‘I wish I’d scored the try for the girls’,’’ Pettman said.
New Zealand captain Sarah Goss had a massive weekend for Manawatu¯ and was named the player of the tournament. She made a ridiculous offload to set up Tipene’s try just before halftime in the final. Winiata was electric as always.
Manawatu¯ ’s preparation wasn’t helped with players away before the national tournament. They had players away at Tasman, with the Black Ferns, the New Zealand sevens team and at the national secondary schools finals. Manawatu¯ beat North Harbour 27-5, Wellington 29-12 and Counties Manukau 31-12 in pool play.
In the quarterfinal, they shut Counties Manukau out 21-0, then beat Bay of Plenty 31-5 in the semifinal.
The Manawatu¯ men finished 13th after they beat Northland 12-7 in the shield final.
Manawatu¯ lost back Reece Brosnan during the final to a serious broken leg.
In pool play, Manawatu¯ lost to North Harbour 26-12, beat Wairarapa Bush 22-14 and lost to Counties Manukau 25-7.
That put Manawatu¯ into the bowl quarterfinals, where they lost to Otago 29-5.
Tasman beat Waikato 14-7 in the men’s premier final.