A fantastic round of sevens was held at Rugby Park in Whakatāne last weekend.

With action beginning at 9am and running through to about 4pm in what was a superb day enjoyed by the crowd, players and teams themselves.

It’s been at least a couple of decades since a sevens tournament was held in Whakatāne. It was taken out by Ngāti Hangarau, who won the final by 21 points over Ngongotahā

EBOP Rugby committee member Matt Te Pou said it was a fantastic day enjoyed by all the teams.

“Everyone had a great day. There were some cracking games of sevens played and a fantastic crowd was there to support.

“It was awesome to see the tents along the side full of teams and people watching. People really got behind the day and made sure they supported it.”

Te Pou said there was plenty of exciting rugby with all the teams competitive and showing some good skills in their matches.

“All the Eastern Bay sides acquitted themselves well on the field. Sevens isn’t a sport that has been played a lot in the Eastern Bay but we’re trying to give it a bit of a lift again.”

Te Pou feels it’s a great sport to try and promote in the Eastern Bay.

“It’s actually more similar to touch rugby then it is to 15s rugby, and we have a lot of touch players here in the Eastern Bay. So, sevens should be something they want to have a crack at.”

The teams that took part in the tournament were Ōpōtiki, Poroporo, Tāneatua, Paroa, Whakatāne Marist, Rūātoki, Te Teko, Ngongotahā, Ngāti Hangarau, Mount Maunganui, Tauranga Sports, and Judea.

Ōpōtiki and Paroa played some superb rugby, but narrowly missed out on a place in the final.

While the women’s competition featured two Poroporo teams, Ōpōtiki, Wha-karewarewa, Rūātoki and Rangataua.

In the women’s final, Whakarewarewa managed to bag a hard-earned 17-14 win over Poroporo 1 in a thrilling final.

This weekend is the Whakarewarewa sevens and Te Pou hopes there is a strong Eastern Bay turnout to help the club, after it was destroyed by fire recently.

Following the Whakarewarewa round in Rotorua, sevens heads to Katikati for a Western Bay round.