Year 7 & 8 Sports News week ending 6 November 2020
YEAR 7 & 8 RUGBY SEVENS TOURNAMENT
The boys who had endured the stop/start nature of the year with promised tournaments cancelled finally had the chance to take the field and show their talents at the ARU 7s at Waitemata Rugby on Wednesday 28th October.
After a tentative start in the first game, the boys came from behind to lead 12-10 against Pt England as the final hooter sounded. Unfortunately, the ref permitted one last play and Pt England took the opportunity to sneak in the winning try and steal the game 10-15.
The second game we faced a well drilled Henderson team who took it to the boys and led 19-0 at halftime. In the second half the self-belief of the St Paul's boys grew as they defended stoutly, dominated possession & the game and finished on a high scoring the final try.
The confidence the boys gained from their performance in game 2 flowed through into the final pool game where they met Liston.
St Paul's dominated possession, eagerly defended and deserved their halftime 7 nil lead. In the second half the bench players came on and continued the performance and we ended with a 24-0 victory. Highlight of the game was that all four tries were scored by Boston – but the team effort was one that they can all be proud of.
The final game of the day was the playoff on the #1 field against Sylvia Park.
The boys prepped well and were confident as they took the field, although they were a little perturbed at how much size they were giving away to this team.
They shouldn’t have been concerned, as in the first half they continually knocked over their bigger opposition, showed great passing and evasion skills and led at halftime 26-0.
In the final stanza the St Paul's team continued to work hard on both attack and defence and ended with a well deserved 40-0 victory.
It was pleasing to see the increase in confidence and skill level as the day progressed. The boys’ belief grew throughout the tournament and showed how good they could be with a little bit of game time under their belts. It’s a shame that they haven’t had the opportunity to build on their training efforts with game time until this tournament and they can all be proud of their efforts.
Although everyone contributed to the team effort and success throughout the day and made choosing a POD very difficult – the stand out efforts were by Samu in the forwards and Boston in the backs.
submitted by Brett Craies (Year 7 and 8 Rugby Sevens Coach)
CZ TOUCH TOURNAMENT
This year St Paul's College were in charge of organising the Central Zone Touch Tournament for Girls, Boys and Mixed grades for all the central intermediate schools in Auckland held at Cox's Bay Reserve.
Our Year 9 and 10 students were the referees for Tuesday's Girl's grade tournament. These young men were outstanding and we received nothing but praise for their conduct and refereeing throughout the day from the other schools. Through their refereeing they set the tone for the day and from this we had many teams of girls who had never played touch before leaving the tournament excited about the game.
I am very proud of these young men and would like to thank them for their contribution to the day and look forward to working with them at next year's tournament. Unfortunately the call had to be made to cancel Thursday's tournament for the Boys and Mixed grade due to severe weather warnings.
Molly Tagaloa
Teacher in Charge Year 7 & 8 Sport
YEAR 7 & 8 UPCOMING SPORT
In Year 7 and 8 Sports we have the CZ Badminton in week 5 and CZ Athletics in week 6.
