As summer approaches and the days get longer, the rugby gets shorter and the club sevens season kicks off this weekend.

Our Belles will get things underway with the Tyla Nathan-Wong Sevens tournaments at Howick College this weekend.

Coach Matt Clark said the squad are excited to carry on what was a groundbreaking season for women’s rugby at Pakuranga.

“The Belles culture is humming at the moment so it hasn’t been a hard task to get a large, core group invested in sevens.

“Culture is at the forefront of what we do, beyond that we are continuing to build the basic in term of our player development and providing a platform to showcase the talent in our team”

The men’s sevens campaign is light on numbers and welcomed a number of schoolboys to the club.

Director of Rugby Grant Henson said players are still welcome as they build into the season.

“It’s a real mix with some premier players, boys from our Under 21s and great to see some schoolboys joining us for training too.

“We have a new coach, Paul Fisiahi, he’s come across from league and has been involved in representative level league but wants to get involved with sevens and he will be great for our campaign.”

The Sevens programme for 2023 is;

October 7
Tyla Nathan-Wong Sevens at Howick College (Belles)

October 14 
Ray Pilcher Memorial Sevens at Patumahoe (both teams)

October 28 
University Sevens at University (mens)

November 4
Grammar TEC Sevens at Grammar TEC (mens)

November 11
Auckland Rugby Union Sevens champs (mens, Belles, U21s)

Article added: Thursday 05 October 2023