The representative sevens season gets serious on Saturday, with the Central Zone 7s Tournament in Levin doubling as the qualifying round for the Sevens Nationals in the New Year.
Barring a major shock, at stake for the four Men’s NPC provincial union sides is seeding for the Nationals, with Wellington, Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki all out to finish on top and secure a favourable draw for the Nationals in Rotorua on the weekend of 14 and 15 January.
For the men’s Heartland union sides, Wanganui, Horowhenua-Kapiti, Wairarapa-Bush and Poverty Bay, it’s likely that the five of them will be vying for one extra spot between them for Nationals. If one of the four big guns crash out – as Taranaki nearly did last year – then two of them will be in the running for Rotorua.
TOURNAMENT DRAW FORMAT
WOMENS
- 2 pool of 3 teams
- Full Round Robin in each pool
- Top qualifier of each pool after pool play will go straight into semi finals
- 2nd& 3rd placed teams will have cross over playoff match to determine the remaining 2 semi-final places
- Semi-finals to be played as 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd
- Semi-final losers play off for 3rd& 4th; Semi-final winners play off for 1st& 2nd (the Cup Final)
- Top 4 teams qualify for the 2017 National Sevens
MENS
- 2 pools of 4 teams
- Round Robin pool play within own pool – 3 games each
- 1st in Pool A will play 2nd in Pool B and 2nd Pool A will play 1st in Pool B in the Cup Semi Finals (1st – 4th).
- 3rdin Pool A will play 4th Pool B and 4th Pool A will play 3rd Pool B in 5th v 6th Playoff Semi-Finals. Winners of these two games will play off for 5th& 6th
- Semi-final losers play off for 3rd& 4th; Semi-final winners play off for 1st& 2nd (the Cup Final)
- Top 5 teams qualify for the 2017 National Sevens
SEEDINGS
The seedings have been determined as follows;
- Finishing position at the 2016 National Sevens;
- Any teams that did not participate at the 2016 National Sevens will be ranked based on their finishing position at the previous year’s Central Region Sevens; and
- Any teams that did not participate at the previous year’s Central Region Sevens will be ranked based on finishing position in the most recent relevant domestic 15s competition (with the Premier Competition ranked above the Heartland Championship).
- In 2017 only the two additional Women’s teams will be allocated seedings as follows: Central 4 (11th seed) and Northern 5 (12th seed).
Saturday’s tournament is one of three qualifying events for the National Tournament, with the Northern Region qualifiers in Cambridge on Sunday and the South Island tournament in Timaru a fortnight ago. Tasman (Men’s) and Canterbury (women’s) won the Southern Sevens qualifiers.
This Saturday’s Central tournament at Playford Park is live on Sky TV all afternoon.
For more live coverage, follow the tournaments Facebook page
CENTRAL REGION TOURNAMENT DRAW (V.4) | |||||
MEN | |||||
POOL A | POOL B | ||||
Wellington (1) | Manawatu (2) | ||||
Hawkes Bay (4) | Taranaki (3) | ||||
Wanganui (5) | Poverty Bay (6) | ||||
Horowhenua Kapiti (8) | Wairarapa Bush (7) | ||||
WOMEN | |||||
POOL A | POOL B | ||||
Manawatu (1) | Wellington (2) | ||||
Poverty Bay (4) | Taranaki (3) | ||||
Hawkes Bay (5) | Wanganui (6) | ||||
10.00am | Wellington | v | Taranaki | WOMEN ROUND 1 | |
10.20am | Manawatu | v | Poverty Bay | WOMEN ROUND 1 | |
10.40am | Hawkes Bay | v | Horowhenua Kapiti | MEN ROUND 1 | |
11.00am | Wellington | v | Wanganui | MEN ROUND 1 | |
11.20am | Manawatu | v | Wairarapa Bush | MEN ROUND 1 | |
v | Poverty Bay | MEN ROUND 1 | |||
11.40am | Taranaki | v | Wanganui | WOMEN ROUND 2 | |
12.00pm | Hawkes Bay | v | Poverty Bay | WOMEN ROUND 2 | |
12.20pm | Wellington | v | Hawkes Bay | MEN ROUND 2 | |
12.40pm | Wanganui | v | Horowhenua Kapiti | MEN ROUND 2 | |
1.00pm | Manawatu | v | Taranaki | MEN ROUND 2 | |
Poverty Bay | v | Wairarapa Bush | MEN ROUND 2 | ||
1.20pm | Wanganui | v | Wellington | WOMEN ROUND 3 | |
1.40pm | Manawatu | v | Hawkes Bay | WOMEN ROUND 3 | |
2.00pm | Wellington | v | Horowhenua Kapiti | MEN ROUND 3 | |
Wanganui | v | Hawkes Bay | MEN ROUND 3 | ||
2.20pm | Manawatu | v | Poverty Bay | MEN ROUND 3 | |
Taranaki | v | Wairarapa Bush | MEN ROUND 3 | ||
2.40pm | 2nd Pool A | v | 3rd Pool B | WOMEN PLAYOFF1 | PF1 |
3.00pm | 2nd Pool B | v | 3rd Pool A | WOMEN PLAYOFF2 | PF2 |
3.20pm | 3rd Pool B | v | 4th Pool A | MEN PLAY OFF 1 | PF1 |
3.40pm | 3rd Pool A | v | 4th Pool B | MEN PLAY OFF 1 | PF2 |
4.00pm | 1st Pool B | v | Winner PF1 | WOMEN CUP SF 1 | SF1 |
4.20pm | 1st Pool A | v | Winner PF2 | WOMEN CUP SF 2 | SF2 |
4.40pm | 1st Pool A | v | 2nd Pool B | MEN CUP SEMI | SF1 |
5.00pm | 2nd Pool A | v | 1st Pool B | MEN CUP SEMI | SF2 |
Winner PF1 | v | Winner PF2 | MEN 5th & 6th | ||
5.20pm | Loser of SF 1 | v | Loser of SF 2 | WOMEN 3rd & 4th | |
5.40pm | Winner of SF 1 | v | Winner of SF 2 | WOMEN FINAL | |
6.00pm | WOMEN PRESENTATION | ||||
6.10pm | Loser SF1 | v | Loser SF2 | MEN 3rd & 4th | |
6.30pm | Winner SF1 | v | Winner SF2 | MEN FINAL | |
6.50pm | MENS PRESENTATION |
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