Waikato men and Manawatu women crowned national rugby sevens champions

  • 14/01/2018
Former All Black Zac Guildford was a part of Waikato's winning run.
Former All Black Zac Guildford was a part of Waikato's winning run. Photo credit: Getty

Waikato have been crowned the National Sevens champions after beating Tasman 21-17 in the tournament's cup final.

James Lash opened the scoring with a try in the first minute to give Tasman the early lead.

Waikato would dot down against the run of play through Sevu Reece, who intercepted the ball from the halfway line to race away under the sticks and set up the easy two-point conversion.

They extended their lead through Tyler Campbell, who stole the ball from a Tasman ruck after making the initial tackle, to run away down the right-hand touchline and give Waikato the 14-5 lead at half-time.

The Mako started the second half encouragingly with a try in the right-hand corner before Lash nailed the tricky conversion from out wide.

But Waikato would immediately hit back to seal the title through Sayarvat Srisawat after he was put away by a brilliant Jordan Bunce line break off the Tasman kick-off.

Earlier on Sunday, Manawatu took out the women's cup after a thrilling 17-15 win over Waikato, while the Bay of Plenty won the plate final with a comfortable 31-12 victory over Auckland.

Newshub.