St Patrick’s College, Wellington won the Pillinger Cup at the Scots College 7s, beating St Ignatius’ College, Riverview 29 – 17 in the final.
The match capped off an outstanding campaign for St Patrick’s, who showed loads of resilience and a knack for closing out tight games.
The tournament, which was contested by 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, produced many entertaining matches, including some nail-biting last-minute victories.
There were also many memorable off-field moments, especially during the post-match trophy presentation, where the boys from Ratu Kadavulevu School, Fiji treated the crowd to a selection of Gospel Songs (see link below) and the St Patrick’s boys performed the haka.
Key match results
Pillinger Cup Final: St Patrick’s 29 – 17 Riverview
Rhino Shield Final: Scots Gold 47 – 5 NSW Development
Midford Plate Final: Canberra Grammar 37 – 0 Farrer
Pillinger Cup Girls Touch: Kambala 4 – 1 SKEGGS
Pillinger Cup Preparatory School 10s: Scots College 26 – 7 Waverley College
See below for all the 7s match results.
Pillinger Cup
The Pillinger Cup was contested by the top placed teams in each of the four pools at the end of the pool matches.
Riverview took on Ratu Kadavulevu in the first semi-final. Ratu Kadavulevu dominated early possession, but Riverview were first to score. Ratu Kadavulevu hit back shortly after and at half-time the score was 7 – 5 in favour of the Fijians.
Both teams scored again in the second half and Ratu Kadavulevu were leading 14 – 10 with less than a minute remaining. Then a series of infringements saw Ratu Kadavulevu get three yellow cards and, with advantage being played after the siren, Riverview crossed out wide to win 15 – 14.
St Patrick’s beat Scots Blue in the second semi-final clash 14 – 7, but they had to fight very hard for their victory. Scots Blue lead 7 – 0 at the half-time break and nearly scored in the final minute.
In the final, Riverview took the field against St Patrick’s aiming to go one better than in last year’s Scots 7s, where they came second to King’s College, Auckland.
The first half was a close tussle, with St Patrick’s leading 12 – 10 at the break. But again St Patrick’s found another gear in the second half, where they outscored Riverview three tries to one and won the game 29 – 17.
St Patrick’s captain Harrison Boyle had an outstanding tournament. He troubled the defence with just about every touch of the ball and scored two tries in the final. Also impressive was Albert Polu, who made some powerful charges.
For Riverview, Jack Allsopp made plenty of yards and Angus Bell showed great pace. Dom Easy also played very well for Riverview, particularly in the earlier matches.
Video of Pillinger Cup Final
(courtesy of “sidesteppa”)
Rhino Shield
The Rhino Shield was contested by the second placed teams in each of the four pools at the end of the pool matches.
Scots Gold played the Lloyd McDermott Rugby Development Team in the first semi-final. Lloyd McDermott got off to an early lead, but once Scots settled into the game, they scored five answered tries and wrapped up the match 34 – 10.
The second semi-final saw NSW Development take on Otago Rugby Football Union. Both teams played with good structure and it was a tight battle in the first half. After the break, the NSW team showed too much class, scoring two quick tries to take the lead 27 – 10. Otago then scored two of their own in the final stages, but it was not enough and NSW booked their place in the final with a 27 – 20 win.
The final between Scots Gold and NSW Development was a one-sided affair. NSW hardly got out of their half and apart from a late try, were outplayed across the park. Scots Gold crossed for seven tries, of which six were converted, for a full-time score of 47 – 5. The standouts for Scots were Billy Smith who scored a hat-trick and Ben Baker.
Midford Plate
The Midford Plate was contested by the third placed teams in each of the four pools at the end of the pool matches.
In the semis, Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School accounted for St John’s College, Nambour 27 – 22 and Canberra Grammar School beat Scots Hoops 17 – 12.
Canberra Grammar then went on to win the final against Farrer 37 – 0, with strong performances from William Goddard and Patrick Johnson.
All 7s results
Pool games
Scots Gold 51 – 0 Farrer
Riverview 22 – 0 St John’s
NSW Development 36 – 5 Scots Hoops
Otago 22 – 5 Canberra Grammar
Ratu Kadavulevu 60 – 0 Farrer
Lloyd McDermott 39 – 0 St John’s
St Patrick’s 29 – 7 Scots Hoops
Scots Blue 24 – 21 Canberra Grammar
Ratu Kadavulevu 15 – 10 Scots Gold
Riverview 40 – 12 Lloyd McDermott
St Patrick’s 20 – 17 NSW Development
Scots Blue 26 – 17 Otago
Midford Plate
Semi-final 1: Farrer 27 – 22 St John’s
Semi-final 2: Canberra Grammar 17 – 12 Scots Hoops
Final: Canberra Grammar 37 – 0 Farrer (see match video below)
Rhino Shield
Semi-final 1: Scots Gold 34 – 10 Lloyd McDermott
Semi-final 2: NSW Development 27 – 20 Otago
Final: Scots Gold 47 – 5 NSW Development (see match video below)
Pillinger Cup
Semi-final 1: Riverview 15 – 14 Ratu Kadavulevu
Semi-final 2: St Patrick’s 14 – 7 Scots Blue
Final: St Patrick’s 29 – 17 Riverview
