Turf Hotel Tasman make SI 7's final, qualify for National 7's

Tasman rugby sevens side fell at the final hurdle, but still managed to earn themselves a spot at the nationals following the South Island sevens championships in Timaru on Saturday.

Tasman were the defending South Island champions, but were unable to repeat their efforts this time around, going down 33-27 to a strong Otago side in the decider.

Tasman had earlier beaten them 28-21 in their first pool match, but as the tournament progressed, it was clear they were going to be one of the teams to beat, manager Mike Kerrisk said.

"There was very little between the two teams at all, but as the day went on we could see that Otago were getting better and better.

"Gary and I knew that they were going to be the team that got very close to the final, if not getting there, and if they did, they would be tough to beat."

Earlier, Tasman beat North Otago 26-7, and suffered a some-what surprise loss to a Southern Invitational Seven 19-21.

Despite the loss, they went through to the quarterfinals as top qualifier from their group, where they beat Mid Canterbury 36-7.

They put in their best effort of the day in their 24-7 win over Southland in the semi.

In the final they gave up two early tries to the blue and golds, before pulling it back.

The sides went try for try in the second half, but Tasman were unable to find the vital draw-level try.

"The goal of making the nationals definitely achieved, [but] disappointed that we couldn't defend our title," Kerrisk said.

"But in saying that, the attrition rate of our team and unavailability has been very high this year, so our lead-in preparation has probably been the worst we've had over the past couple of seasons.

"So for the guys to go down there and for us to pull in some guys last minute who were probably a bit short of a run when it came to sevens, I'm really pleased with the effort the guys put out there on the field."

Kerrisk said NZ sevens rep Shane Christie was outstanding all day, while Liam Squire, Brenton Connell, Willis Scott and Kieron Fonotia were strong as well.

Seta Sauira, in his mid-30s, read the game intelligently. James Lowe was top point scorer, helped by accurate conversion kicking, while Christie and Fonotia also crossed for tries regularly.

The result was enough to secure them a spot at the national sevens tournament in Queenstown early next year.

The team suffered a huge injury toll before the tournament, and Kerrisk said competition for places for the nationals would be tough. He said the one thing they lacked was out-and-out pace, meaning the likes of Kim Bateman, Mitchell Scott, George Millar and Sione Holani would come into the frame once they were back on the pitch.

"It puts us in quite a nice position, but we'll certainly have to make some fairly hard calls on who we take and who we leave."

- The Nelson Mail