Stallions gallop to croc victory at hottest 7s

Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 1:00 AM
NT Rugby
by NT Rugby

The Darwin Stallions won the 29th Annual Coco-Cola Hottest 7s in the World in an absorbing 14-5 win over Fiji’s Eagle Warriors in the Croc Final before a boisterous crowd at Land Rover Rugby Park last night.

Stallions were captained by former All Black Zac Guildford and the 7th seeded team emerged a serious finals contender early on Day One.

Their line-up was well balanced and experienced elite level Rugby 7s players.Defining moments in both the Semi Final and Final earned Penitoa Fiinau the Men’s Player of the Tournament award. 

With both matches in the balance Final’s combined speed and brute strength to score decisive five pointers.

The Semi Finals were low scoring but as gripping as the decider.

Stallions defeated Tribe 7s in there’s while 9th seed Eagle Warriors qualified with a 15-12 over 4th seed Intercept Spurs.

The Buff Competition which determines 5th position overall went to the Australian Men’s Sevens Development Team who were clinical in their 31-5 victory over the Land Rover Northern Territory Mosquitoes, the highest finish registered by the Mozzies in the events history.

The Women’s Competition was arguably the best yet with the class of the Australian Women’s Sevens Team prevailing.

The Aussie Girls comprehensively won the Jabiru Final 35-0 over first time visitors to the Top End Iconz 35-0.

Earlier Iconz defeated a rebuilding Tribe 7s 19-5 in the Semi Final while the Aussie Team took until the last play of the match to defeat Sydney University 14-10.

Sydney University finished 3rd after defeating Tribe 22-17 in another wonderful match.

Georgina Friedrichs was presented with the Women’s Player of the Tournament Award.

Central Queensland Dingoes defeated Singapore 17-12 to finish 5th. 

The other visiting team, BMW (Bowen, Mackay, Whitsundays) defeated East Arnhem who the best performed of the Northern Territory Teams 22-0 to finish 7th.

In the Men’s Barra Competition newcomers 3D Narraro defeated Gumatj Cavaliers 10-5 to finish 9th overall.

The Cavaliers aspirations for top honours were rocked late in the week when five players from Namosi had their Visas denied.

Local Team Honkers won the Gecko Final 21-19 over Central Crewsaders from Alice Springs and finished 13th overall.

The inaugural Jug Competition was won by another local team in Northern Warriors to effectively finish 17th while Katherine Brahmans defeated Kununurra Smashed Crabs and won the Spoon to finish 25th in the 30 team Men’s Team Tournament.

The Cockatoo Competition for Youth Boys was won for the third time in a row by Swampdogs from Darwin’s Rural Area.

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of NT Rugby.

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