New Zealand Residents Make VB Sevens final only to go down

The New Zealand Sevens team performed extremely well, enduring very toughcompetition in hot conditions at the VB Sevens which was run by St Marys Leagues on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 February 2005 at the Western Weekender Sports Stadium in Sydney. The NZ Residents defeated by the hosts in the final by 22-8.

The round robin saw the New Zealand domestic side take on both Fiji and American Samoa in their round with two wins to the Kiwi side which promoted them to the semi final in which they were to face New Zealand allies in the NZ / NSW Maori squad.

Four of the NZ / NSW Maori side were selected from the Scottwood Trust NZ National Sevens tournament played at North Harbour Stadium on the 5 and 6 February, and the remaining eight players are all currently based in Sydney.

There was no love lost in the match and as to be expected a fantastic battle was had, but the NZ Residents came away with an impressive 22 - 4 win to earn them a spot in the Grand Final.

St Marys-Penrith Cougars were the other grand finalist team and with all squad members playing representative Rugby League at some level and many of their youngsters having the potential to break through to 1st grade along with the experience of players such as captain, David McLean they were always going to be a hard team to beat.

NZ Sevens coach Graeme Norton was absolutely thrilled with the performance of his team and although the experience of players such as Phil Shead and try scoring machine Daniel Floyd went along way, he felt that all the boys performed suberbly and couldn't have asked for more, especially from the young 17 and 18 years in the squad. Grand Final score, St Marys-Penrith Cougars 22, NZ Residents 8.

RESULTS

Game 1 - New Zealand Residents vs Fiji New Zealand Residents 22 Fiji 12

Game 2 - New Zealand Residents vs American Samoa New Zealand Residents 24 American Samoa 8

Semi Final - New Zealand Residents vs NZ / NSW Maori New Zealand Residents 22 NZ / NSW Maori 4

Grand Final - New Zealand Residents vs St Marys-Penrith Cougars St Marys-Penrith Cougars 22 New Zealand Residents 8