Wellington won both the men’s and women’s tournament, with the men’s team beating the Whanganui Butcher Boys 26-12 in their final and the women’s side defeating the Manawatu Cyclones 28-24.
The men’s win was Wellington’s first win in this tournament since 2019 when it was last held at Levin’s Playford Park, while the women’s was significant as being the first time that a side other than Manawatu has won this. Manawatu were gunning for a 10-peat of women’s Central 7s titles.
This year’s tournament was also notable as being just a three-team one, with Wellington, Manawatu and Whanganui the three teams entered in both divisions.
As such, there was a round-robin and then a straight knockout semi-final between the two sides who dropped games. Wellington (men’s) and Manawatu (women’s) went straight through to the final.
It was disapointing that no other unions could join this tournament this year, in particular NPC unions Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki who are both part of the Central zone sevens region.
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