MEDIA RELEASE
16 December 2018

The CMK Taranaki men and Port Taranaki women’s sevens sides have completed their respective campaigns at the TECT National Sevens tournament in Tauranga.

Played over two days, the CMK men finished fifth and the Port Taranaki women claimed 12^th place.

The men beat Hawkes Bay 19-5 in the Plate final to claim the silverware. Hawkes Bay beat Taranaki in pool play and at the regional qualifying tournament. Taranaki pipped Waikato in the Plate semi-final, 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 quarter final 24-19 in golden-point extra time. Both teams finished regular time 19-all but Tasman, who eventually won the tournament, scored in the corner 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 Hawkes Bay 38-12.

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

The Port Taranaki were narrowly beaten by Hawkes Bay 17-14 to finish in 12^th place. Taranaki were leading at the break by 14-0 but some lapses in defence allowed Hawkes 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 stand out 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.

The Taranaki Rugby Football Union would like to thank CMK Chartered Accounts and Port Taranaki for their support of the men’s and women’s sevens programmes, respectively, as the year of rugby comes to an end.  

2018 National Sevens Taranaki Results:

CMK Men
Beat BOP 10-0
Lost Hawkes Bay 38-12
Beat Canterbury 24-5
Lost Tasman 24-19 (Cup Quarter Final)
Beat Waikato 22-12 (Plate Semi-Final
Beat Hawkes Bay 19-5 (Plate Final)

Port Taranaki Women
Lost Auckland 24-0
Lost Canterbury 24-19
Lost Otago 26-15
Lost North Harbour 22-14 (Bowl Semi-Final)
Lost Hawkes Bay 17-14 (11/12^th Play-Off)

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact:

David Ormrod
CMK Taranaki Sevens Manager
020 4024 3754
David.ormrod@trfu.co.nz

Braydon Peterson
Port Taranaki Women’s Coach
027 323 8391
braydon@trfu.co.nz

Article added: Sunday 16 December 2018