Sevens in Heaven 2009

Coverage of the Cook Islands International Sevens 2009

Amene’s dream came true
20 years on, sevens could be our future
Top team will give it best shot
Sevens in Heaven kicks off
Dash for cash starts tourney
Parliamentarians clash!
Sevens sizzle!
Cricketers out in force
Rebels snatch sevens title
Teams sign up for next year’s 7s
Bring on 2010 international 7s

“Ah, bugger it! I’ll just do it myself!”

Those were the defiant words of Amene Rangi, the founder of sevens rugby in the Cooks, who refused to give in when people said his idea of introducing rugby sevens to the islands wouldn’t work.

And over 20 years later – sevens rugby is one of the most popular sports in the Cook Islands.

This year we celebrate 20 years of international sevens with a great line up of teams taking on the Sevens in Heaven 20th anniversary tournament opening today.

Amene is still an active rugby player and while his Mongoose golden oldies mates tease him and call him ‘grandad’ it’s not because of his age but rather because they regard him as the grandfather of rugby sevens in the Cooks.

With a group of mates in support like the late Tekorona Tekorona and Tony Hole, Amene went about setting up the new form of rugby on the island.

“There were a lot of people who didn’t want to be part of it,” recalls Amene.

“But I thought bugger them, I’ll just do it myself.”

In 1979 the first rugby sevens competition, a business house tournament, began on Rarotonga.

The local sevens competition grew to include both Rarotonga clubs and outer islands teams.

Through the 80s rugby sevens club competitions were a regular fixture.

But Amene says that there wasn’t much training for the local competition and this made him realise that local players needed to be influenced by international players.

And so the first international sevens tournament was organised and held in 1989 with a total of 16 teams taking part.

International players were recruited from around the world to come and take part in the tournament with two international players slotted into each local side.

“If we put in more than two international players per team, we knew that they would win the game on their own, but if we put in two players, they would become part of the team.

“The whole point of the exercise was to get local players to rub shoulders with these professionals and become like them – to develop our local players,” said Amene.

“You look at the Piri family – the boys Darren and Terry were young boys then and they got to play alongside people like Eric Rush and Jonah Lomu. Look at them today – they are legends themselves.

“In fact, we discovered Jonah Lomu before New Zealand even knew about him.”

Amene is full of hilarious stories from the early years including the fact that international players had to earn their keep at the homes they were billeted at.

“I remember one time I went to pick up these players and there they were raking up the rubbish!”

And apparently during the internationals sevens, the island ran out of corned beef because Palm were the major sponsors of the tournament and so teams won cartons of corned beef leaving locals angry that they couldn’t get their daily intake of punu puakatoro.

Amene and a number of his friends who introduced rugby sevens to the Cook Islands will get VIP treatment this weekend at the BCI Stadium.

If you’d like to hear more yarns about the early days of rugby sevens, be sure to seek out Amene, who will be more than happy to chew the fat with you.

Hit the sevens!

• Matariki Wilson

ns2 1990 ns2 1990

The introduction of rugby sevens into the Cook Islands was the brainchild of Amene Rangi who in the early 1980s gathered around him a small group of people who believed in the future of this form of rugby and together they formed the Cook Islands Rugby Sevens Association.

I was one of those in that original group that met in 1984 and recall our first ever meeting was held at the Motor Centre and among those who attended were Tony Hole, Gregg Hoepper, the late Agostine Heather and Malcolm Sword.

The first competitions were held at Tupapa Park and were a mix of club and privately sponsored teams. Matches were played up to three times weekly and were enormously popular with a limit of 24 teams having to be made.

In 1989 as part of our ongoing plan to grow the sport, the first tournament involving overseas players was held at the national stadium with Sam Marcel, a Cook Islander then in the Auckland NPC team, as the featured player.

The success of this one-off tournament led to the association launching the International Sevens as an annual event in 1991.

For the first time local clubs and teams could sponsor overseas players to a maximum of three per team and overseas teams could enter as well.

There was no shortage of players in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Samoa who were willing and able to take part and in those days rugby was still amateur so the cost involved was a lot less than it is now.

We were lucky also that we were able to secure the help of NZ legend Eric Rush as our player agent and he was able to arrange for some of the great NZ players to participate over the years including Graeme Bachop, Jonah Lomu, Richard Turner, Brian Lima, and from Fiji came the likes of Waisale Serevi and Paule Bale. As well as them, players and teams have taken part from Fiji, Samoa, USA, Tahiti, NZ and Australia.

The association had a policy of promoting local sport and for a number of years every island was represented in sevens competition by teams from the home islands who travelled by sea or air to take part.

Over the years the competition was expanded to include age-group divisions from under12s to under 18s and women’s divisions.

The association always hoped to get the Cook Islands recognised on the international stage and the first four-year development programme saw the national team entering the Punta Del Estes Tournament and travelling to Uruguay over Christmas 1996 in order to qualify for the 1997 World Cup.

This team coached by George George not only qualified but also went on to finish 10th equal with Scotland in the World Cup a year later. George again took the team to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 where the Cook Islands won the plate division by defeating Tonga in the final. The Cook Islands competed in the first ever Fiji International Sevens and throughout the 90s competed in tournaments in Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

• Terry Hagan

The Cooks will be fielding its top rugby sevens squad at the IRB circuit qualifier in Tahiti next week. 09020804

The Cook Islands will be fielding its top rugby sevens squad at the International Rugby Board qualifying tournament in Tahiti next week.

Teams will be competing for a berth at the Wellington, Hong Kong and Adelaide tournaments on the upcoming IRB sevens circuit and also the Commonwealth Games in India next year.

The Cooks will be competing against Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Niue, Vanuatu, Tahiti and American Samoa at the November 13-14 qualifier.

Although Samoa and Fiji have already qualified for the IRB circuit, it is understood they will turn up to Tahiti to prepare for the 2009-10 series which will begin in December in Dubai and South Africa.

“This is a four-in-one tournament where we have to compete to win to play at three tournaments on the IRB sevens circuit and at the Commonwealth Games,” says Cook Islands manager Anthony Turua. “And the CIRU wants to field our top squad to attend this tournament.”

The team will be guided by physio Brett Bulkeley and sevens national coach Ramsey Tomokino, who has been scouting players around New Zealand and Australia.

Tomokino also watched the Pacific Mini Games tournament in Rarotonga last month.

Over the last two weekends a squad of 25 players has assembled in Auckland for training and for matches against the Auckland rugby sevens squad also coached by Tomokino and former New Zealand sevens star Karl Tenana.

Players in contention for a placing in the squad are Rangi Vallance (Hawkes Bay), Patella Tou (Arorangi), Ben Enoka (Canterbury), Koiatu Koiatu (Perth), Dexter Moroney (Auckland), Jay Karaitaina (Auckland), Jerome Vogel (Auckland), Amos Ioasa (Hawkes Bay), Adam Vardey (Wellington), Winnies Marsters (Auckland), Richard Connal (Auckland), Louis Devery (Auckland), Francis Takiari (Auckland), Airoe Boaza (Counties), Victor Peach (Auckland), Matt Henry (Auckland), Sam Toroma (Tupapa), Eddie Nicholas (Takuvaine), Elisaia Leaupepe (Auckland), Sam Teraitua (Auckland) and Anton Marii (Auckland).

There are other players on the radar for contention and these players will be looked at closely for the IRB circuit next year pending on their availability.

With the international Sevens in Heaven tournament this week, no doubt the selectors will also be looking at other talent for next year.

• Rugby Sevens

The 20th anniversary Sevens in Heaven tournament officially opens today.

Kick starting today’s programme is the charity luncheon with sevens legend Eric Rush.

The luncheon will be held at the Edgewater Resort in Arorangi where ‘Raro Rush’ will share stories from his illustrious playing career.

The luncheon starts at 12 noon with funds raised going towards junior rugby development in the Cook Islands.

At 1pm today at the BCI, the stars of tomorrow will take to the field for the primary school rippa rugby competition with eight mixed teams taking part.

This is a free event but if you stay on in the BCI grounds for official parade starting at 4.30pm, you will need to make sure you pay the admission fee of $5 for adults and $3 for kids at the gate.

The 12 men’s teams and three women’s team will parade around the BCI Stadium before the minister of sports Ngamau Munokoa declares the tournament officially open.

The curtain raiser game between the Cook Islands and New Zealand Parliamentarian 15 team will kick off at 5 o’clock.

This is sure to be a fun filled game, especially as the Mongoose golden oldies players have been called up to support our local parliamentarians.

Gate takings from the game will be donated to Te Vaerua Rehabilitation Community Centre.

Then it’s game day tomorrow (Friday).

The first day of the sevens tournament kicks off at 4pm and will run until 7.40pm.

A full day of activities and games will continue on Saturday with the first game starting at 2pm.

The grand final is expected to start at 7pm.

So don’t miss out on these full three days of Sevens in Heaven activities and rugby sevens – get yourself and your family tickets, dress up in the brightest and best and hit the sevens!

• Matariki Wilson

The ANZ Bank dash for cash was the highlight of the Sevens in Heaven opening yesterday with Roydon Campbell of the Ara o te Wheke team (centre) misplacing his shorts. 09110523

Yesterday’s opening of the Sevens in Heaven 20th anniversary tournament was short and sweet.

The 12 men’s and three women’s teams taking part in the tournament marched into the BCI stadium and made themselves comfortable in the stands.

The highlight of the opening was without a doubt the ANZ Bank dash for cash sprint.

A representative from each team lined up on the synthetic track including one Ara o te Wheke player, Roydon Campbell, who seemed to have misplaced his shorts! However, his lack of clothing saw him win the dash for cash

The girls also showed their speed down the track.

Cash won during the event will be donated to the charity of choice by the winning runners and their team.

Teams then relaxed and watched some of yesterday’s stars battle it out on the field in the New Zealand versus Cook Islands Parliamentarian showdown.

The first round of sevens rugby kicks off today at 4pm at the BCI Stadium with the evening’s activities wrapping up around 8pm.

Tomorrow will see the last day of games with the first game starting at 2pm.

Make sure you don’t miss out on what is going to be a very competitive Sevens in Heaven tournament.

• Matariki Wilson

Mongoose golden oldies player George George leads the Cook Islands ‘topito’ haka. 09110537

Former Tereora College principal Daryl Waiti was on form during the haka and parliamentarian match. 09110536

Big hits, slick passes and some very odd facial expressions were all part of the New Zealand and Cook Islands Parliamentarians clash at the opening of the Sevens in Heaven tournament on Thursday.

Prior to the game, match rules had to be tweaked to accommodate what was an ‘older’ Cook Islands outfit – so a number of golden oldies rules applied.

The new rules allowed deputy prime minister Sir Terepai Maoate to take to the field in purple shorts which in golden oldies indicates that the player is over 70 and must not be tackled to the ground.

Before the two teams could break up a sweat on the field – a haka off was called in the middle of the field with the kiwi team including former Tereora College principal Daryl Waiti looking like the All Blacks as they performed the Ka Mate haka.

The Cook Islands performed a more jovial haka with George George of the Mongoose leading the charge.

Then it was game on.

According to George, the kiwi team were not only younger than them but they also had speed and brawn on their side.

“It was definitely a tougher game than we are used to in the golden oldies,” says George.

“I mean these guys play in the masters division, which is a higher standard of game than our golden oldies.”

“But it was a great open game – some big hits.”

Taua Benioni served up some bigs hits with Geoff Murray doing a fantastic job on the wing.

Sevens founder Amene Rangi was busy around the rucks in the number 8 position with Paul Allsworth showing great speed around the fringes.

There was also some beautiful linkages between league great Kevin Iro and the still speedy Mac Mokoroa.

Cook Islands captain and Penrhyn Island member of parliament Wilkie Rasmussen, looking leaner and happier since he left cabinet, coordinated the team from half back.

DPM Sir Terepai Maoate didn’t see much of the ball in his fullback position but by all accounts the DPM scored the only try for the Cooks and because it was the last try of the game – the Cook Islands won the match (golden oldies rule) despite New Zealand scoring 2 tries.

Best for the Kiwis were certainly their front rowers led by Labour list MP and prop Shane Jones.

John Carter secured some good go-forward ball for the kiwis with their ‘younger’ players Chris Tremain and Sean Rota carving up the Cookie defence.

All in all it was a fantastic game which was wrapped up with an after match function at Ngatipa hosted by New Zealand High Commissioner Tia Barrett and wife Theresa.

• Matariki Wilson

Hot! That’ll be today’s conditions and rugby sevens.

It was sizzling at the BCI stadium yesterday afternoon as the first games of action packed sevens were played and the Sevens in Heaven party atmosphere kicked in.

The level of the first few games was without doubt well above anything seen before on the rock with visiting internationals like Nigel Hunt of the Titikaveka Rehab Razorbacks team displaying some outstanding skills.

It’s no wonder the pint sized but stocky player is in the New Zealand national sevens team.

The Razorbacks were just too good for their Southern Storm opponents who couldn’t get past the razor sharp defence of the Titikaveka team, though the Storm will gather again and hit back stronger today.

The Razorbacks are certainly one of the classy outfits in the tournament but the new brew of local sides already showed that they are not far off the mark either.

Tama Toa United were positively glowing red hot with Junior Ngapara a standout scoring two 50m tries.

But their opponents and one of the little known teams, the Waimiha Rebels, showed their true colours when the team filed out on to the field revealing their secret weapon in home grown talent Frances Smith.

The ex-Arorangi and now Auckland rep player was able to inspire the team to overcome Tama Toa United who led 15-7 at the break.

Smith and younger brother Brendon rallied the Rebels to clinch the game 19-17.

And on the sideline playing advisor for the Rebels was none other than national league captain Tere Glassie.

You just have to hit the sevens to see the action for yourself.

Judging by the opening games of the tournament last night, today’s competition is going to be a scorcher!

Make sure when you hit the sevens, go nice and early to suss out your spot as word is the whole island is going to be there.

• Matariki Wilson

Cricketers will be out in force today playing out round six of the Rarotonga club championships.

After surging ahead to be the outright leaders in the competition, Muri will have a bounce in their step today when they face a rapidly improving Takuvaine side at the Takuvaine sports field.

Takuvaine currently leads the bottom four teams and will want to do some damage to an in-form Muri to nudge their way into the top four.

Out at Arorangi, the club will host Matavera who will no doubt take along their band of vocal supporters to help them outrun Arorangi, who are sitting in second place on the points table.

Turangi will be strong on their own home pitch today when they host Tupapa 1 while Tupapa 2 will face the young Avatiu-Nikao side at Matavera.

All games start at 1.30pm, so you have enough time to head out and support the cricketers before the sevens start.

• Matariki Wilson

Waimiha Rebels impact player Francis Smith plants a big one of the Sevens in Heaven tournament trophy won by the last minute throw together team. Reports and photos, pages 8-10. 09110801

The Waimiha Rebels went from a last minute throw together team to becoming the champions of the Sevens in Heaven 20th anniversary tournament.

The Rebels were the underdogs against defending champions the Tauae Bulls, but after a thrilling game, the Rebels crushed the Bulls’ campaign to retain their champion title.

The game went right down to the wire.

Rebels local speedster Turori Matutu got the first points on the board for his team with a superb runaway try, a successful conversion giving the Rebels an initial 7-0 lead.

Then the team’s captain twinkle toe Tariu Tairea also scored himself a beauty to stretch the lead to 12-0.

Then the Bulls put their horns down and made a charge for the title to even up the scores then take the lead 21-17 thanks to the Bulls captain Winnie Marsters, Steve Heta and Aaron Rogers.

With seconds left on the clock, Bulls fans began to party and celebrate but the Rebels weren’t done yet.

Even some of the Bulls players started to celebrate and that’s when the Rebels hit them hard with Tariu and Matutu combining to carve up the partying Bulls for a spectacular game winning try right on the hooter to clinch the game and the tournament trophy 22-21.

It was a heartbreaking Rebels try for the Bulls and their fans who were looking forward to taking out this year’s 20th anniversary tournament after being part of the tournament since it began in 1989.

For the Rebels – it was sheer delight and joy.

“That took a lot of guts,” commented sevens legend Eric Rush after the game.

“The Rebels played a whole extra half of football out there and got the results.” Rush was impressed with the level of games seen during the tournament and said he looks forward to seeing some of the outstanding young Cook Islands players on the international scene.

Bulls captain Winnie Marsters thanked the Rebels for a hard and competitive game and said that it was an honour to lead the team in this year’s tournament.

Rebels captain Tariu Tairea spoke of the awesome bond and brotherhood that had been formed by the newly put together team.

“Three days before the competition we didn’t have a team and that’s why you didn’t see much of us in the paper,” said Tariu.

“But it has been awesome bonding and creating a brotherhood with you guys and I hope we stay together.”

Tariu also thanked the Tauae Bulls for lifting the standard of rugby sevens in the Cook Islands and giving local boys something to strive for.

The team was boosted by the inclusion of home grown Francis Smith from the Auckland provincial team who was inspirational in the two-day tournament for the team.

In other finals the bowl was won by the Flying Dragons 22-17 over the tenacious Araura Enua team while the local Fijian team Tabusoro blitzed the fancy star studded Titikaveka Rehab Razorback team 15-12 for the plate.

One of the most impressive features of the tournament has been the number of young Cook Islands players on the field rubbing shoulders with experienced players of overseas.

Young players like Tai Joseph Jnr (Tama Tao United), Adam Tangata, Tepou Taana, Alex Roa and Teu Paerau of the Avatiu Eels, Taime Tangatapoto and Tatuava Tatuava in the Tauae Bulls, Bill Tangapiri in the Titikaveka team will have grown their rugby skills to another level just by being part of the Sevens in Heaven tournament.

Congratulations to the Rebels for a fantastic tournament triumph.

• Matariki Wilson

Tauae Bulls Vili Maafu, Daniel Faleafa and Steve Heta cook up a move against Tabusoro in the quarter finals. 09110810

A number of visiting international rugby sevens teams have already registered for next years Sevens in Heaven tournament.

Visiting teams including the College Rifles from Auckland, Southern Storm form the South Islands and the Hastings Sports team will be back again next year.

Organisers of the tournament Lara Sadaraka and Karla Eggelton of Destination Cook Islands have yet to fully wrap up this year’s tournament.

But the ball is already rolling for next year’s competition.

The 2010 Sevens in Heaven tournament dates has been locked in for November 4, 5 and 6, with plans to expand the programme to include more women’s teams and to improve the comfort of competing teams.

Eggelton says that they are also looking at improving their services not just for players but also for spectators and especially families with children.

Eggelton says that the success of the tournament is all due to the support of the community.

“We’ve had amazing support from people in the community and we were blessed with great weather,” says Eggelton.

“What more can you ask for!”

Eggelton explains that the Sevens in Heaven brand will be carried through to next year’s tournament with the theme to be launched in mid-2010.

This year’s rugby sevens games were notably of higher level than those seen last year and with the young players rubbing shoulders with international players – next year’s tournament is sure to be even bigger and better.

• Matariki Wilson

Index | Photo Gallery | Memory Lane | Cooks Info | FAQs | Subscribe | About Us |