The Waikato Rugby Club 7’s was held over the weekend (Saturday 12^th November) at Marist Park with Hamilton Old Boys Huskies and Leamington both successfully defending their Women’s and Men’s Division 1 titles respectively and University becoming the new Men’s Premier winners.

Following a one-year hiatus in 2021, our Club 7s competition returned in 2022. With plenty on offer for spectators including food & coffee vans, ice cream trailer and K'aute Pasifika joining us for the day offering games & immunisations. On top of all that – we had 21 teams competing to be Club 7s Champions across our three grades on offer.

Hamilton Old Boys Huskies continued their dominance in women’s rugby by claiming the women’s 7’s title on top of their 15’s title they won earlier this season. They began the day with a big win over Hamilton Marist and then went on to be undefeated in the round robin by beating Leamington and Melville. They would face Otorohanga in the semi-final before facing Melville in the final.

Their opponents Melville only suffered one defeat in the round robin and that was to the Huskies. Both teams would face off in the final with Hamilton Old Boys Huskies just beating Melville 17-12 to defend their women’s 7’s club rugby title in 2022.

In Division 1, Leamington made it 4 club 7’s titles in a row. The men from Cambridge began the day with a tight victory over Ohaupo before beating Hinuera. However, they would drop a game to their final opponent when Suburbs beat them 29-19 in game 3 of the day. Leamington would bounce back with a victory over Te Rapa.

Suburbs run to the final would see them begin the day with a 19 all draw with Hinuera before going through the rest of the round robin undefeated. Leamington would get revenge over Suburbs when the two met in the final with Leamington coming away with a 29-12 victory to secure their fourth 7’s title.

Finally, University would upset tournament favorites, Fraser Tech, in the final. Both University and Fraser Tech began the day with a big victory over their opponents, Hamilton Old Boys and Morrinsville Sports, respectively. However, University would drop a game to Hautapu before winning the remainder of their round robin games to make the semifinals, while Fraser Tech would continue through the round robins undefeated.

In the semi-finals both University and Fraser Tech would be too good for their opponents, Melville and Melville development, to both advance to the final. In the final, University was able to capitalize on a couple of Fraser Tech mistakes to go ahead, they would then hold on to claim a 19-12 victory over the reigning club 7’s champions to become the 2022 Men’s Premier Club 7’s champions.

Finally, a big shout out to our 25 referees who attended on the day and helped out in various match official roles, our hosts Hamilton Marist for again providing a great venue & the community for getting in behind the event and wrapping up the 2022 season with a 7s event.

Article added: Tuesday 15 November 2022