Pitman to captain Tasman men's team at South Island sevens
Jesse Pitman will captain the Tasman men's team at Saturday's South Island regional sevens tournament in Timaru.
Successful Tasman Griffins rugby captain Jesse Pitman has now been handed the reins for the Tasman men's team that will contest the southern regional sevens tournament at Alpine Energy Stadium in Timaru on Saturday.
However, the Tasman women's team will have two skippers at the helm, with Jess Drummond amd Ella Marwick named as co-captains. The top five men's teams and top three women's teams at Timaru will qualify for the Bayleys national sevens tournament at the Rotorua International Stadium on January 16 and 17.
Pitman's already enjoyed a stellar season, playing a key role in Wanderers' Tasman Trophy and Nelson Bays division one club title successes before captaining the Tasman Griffins to the South Island Invitational championship crown with an impressive unbeaten record.
Sevens clearly offers a completely different challenge, although Pitman, who was part of the Wanderers team that beat Stoke 38-10 in the recent Tasman club sevens men's final at Motueka, leads an exciting looking Tasman side bolstered by the inclusion of Tasman Makos winger Mitchell Scott who was unavailable for the club sevens. Scott's selection helps to offset the loss of James Lash who is unavailable for the Timaru tournament.
The Tasman men are in pool 2 alongside Canterbury and Southland but will play pool 1 teams South Canterbury, Mid Canterbury and Otago for a place in the semifinals.
Drummond was one of 14 players selected for a New Zealand women's development camp in Taupo this week, having previously been joined by Marwick and Fern Hoskin at a three-day national development camp where they were assessed by the national selectors.
There are only four women's teams competing in Timaru, with Tasman meeting Otago, Canterbury and South Canterbury in a round robin competition to determine the semifinal seedings.
The women's final is scheduled for 5.20pm, followed by the men's decider at 6pm.
TURF HOTEL TASMAN MEN: Te Puoho Stephens, Steve Soper, Tone Ng Shiu, Shannon Frizell, Amos Pogia, Iliesa Ravudra, Viliami Lolohea, Jesse Pitman (captain), Jackson Harvey, Andrew Knewstubb, Christian Kelly, Mitchell Scott.
TURF HOTEL TASMAN WOMEN: Fern Hoskin, Amanda Sim, Jessica Foster, Hannah Kelly, Dana Wilson, Jess Drummond (co-captain), Ella Marwick (co-captain), Montana Heslop, Amelia Hammett, Steph Mitchell, Ariana Tekawa-Wiremu, Pippa Andrews, Sarah McLaughlin, Bethan Manners.
