Mixed results for Taranaki

The Taranaki men's and women's sevens sides had a mixed performance at the national champs in Tauranga at the weekend.

The CMK men finished fifth and the Port Taranaki women claimed 12th place at the TECT National Sevens tournament

The men beat Hawke's Bay 19-5 in the Plate final to claim the silverware. Hawke's Bay beat Taranaki in pool play and at the regional qualifying tournament. Taranaki pipped Waikato in the plate semifinal, 22-21 after being down 14-12 at halftime.

Taranaki were in contention in the top half of the draw but were beaten by Tasman in a cup quarterfinal 24-19 in goldenpoint extra time. Both teams finished regular time 19-all but Tasman, who eventually went through to the final, scored to claim the win.

There was a wait for Taranaki after day one as the calculators were out to determine who would go through to the top division. Taranaki's 24-5 win against Canterbury and Hawkes Bay beating Bay of Plenty allowed the amber and blacks to enter the Cup quarter finals based on points differential. As a result, the hosts and the black and reds were kicked out of the top division.

Against Canterbury, Taranaki played their best match of the weekend with Jayson Potroz leading the way with two tries and finished pool play with 21 points – third overall behind North Harbour's Pita Volavola on 27 points and Canterbury's Daniel Fransen with 24.

Earlier on the first day, Taranaki beat Bay of Plenty 10-0 but lost to Hawke's Bay

38-12.

Former New Zealand and England sevens representative Warwick Lahmert and Liam Blyde were standouts for Taranaki during the weekend.

The women were narrowly beaten by Hawke's Bay 17-14 to finish in 12th place. Taranaki were leading at the break by 14-0 but some lapses in defence allowed Hawke's Bay to sneak through.

Their best performance came against Canterbury on Saturday but were pipped

24-19.

Taranaki showed a lot of fight against the southerners, making solid tackles and building phases.

New Plymouth Girls' High School student Elle Johns was a standout in the match scoring a try and continued her form against Otago scoring a brace in a

26-15 loss.

In Taranaki's other pool match of the weekend, Auckland came up trumps winning 24-0.

Along with Johns, Tiana Davison and co-captain Jessie Aitkin-Fowell were in form.