New Zealand's Top Club Event: The Taupiri Sevens,
1990
Emil Signes
March 1, 1990
JUNE 30, 2013
Note of 2013: I wrote this
article to accompany my article on
Atlantis at the Taupiri Sevens and both - in edited form
- were published in the March 26, 1990 Rugby.
This picture accompanied the article. To see the current
article as published see Taupiri: New Zealand's
World-Class 7s Tournament.
March 1, 1990
SEVENS:
New
Zealand's Top Club Event: The Taupiri Sevens
To anyone that follows worldwide sevens at
least cursorily,
the tournament that most likely springs to
mind is the Hong
Kong Sevens, the queen of all sevens
tournaments.
Ask about club sevens, and Middlesex and
Melrose are two
names that tend to come rapidly to mind,
with other Northern
hemisphere tournaments such as the Heineken
7s in Amsterdam,
the Monte Carlo 7s, the Dubai 7s, also on
some lips.
Despite the total domination of Australia,
New Zealand, and
Fiji in sevens over the last 15 years,
however, no Southern
hemisphere club tournament's fame -- if
such there is -- has
transcended its local sphere of influence.
Thus the person outside of New Zealand that
has heard of the
Taupiri Sevens is rare indeed.
Nevertheless, since its inception in 1984,
the Taupiri Sevens
has become the universally acknowledged top
club 7s'
tournament in New Zealand.
Given that New Zealand has added 7s'
dominance to its long
standing pre-eminence in the 15-man game,
the story of the
Taupiri Sevens indicates how innovative
thinking can help
create, build on, and improve a new and
successful tradition.
Taupiri
Taupiri is a tiny community located in the
Waikato and
dominated by dairy farms, about 60 miles
south of Auckland
and 15 miles north of Hamilton.
Less than a thousand people live within the
village of
Taupiri itself; if we consider the
immediately
adjacent communities the number rises to
perhaps a couple
thousand at most.
In many ways, Taupiri and its Waikato
environs remind me of
Melrose and the Scottish Borders, and it
seems fitting that
the seeds of a globally significant sevens'
tournament are
being sown there.
One-Day Cricket
Cricket has always been a popular sport in
New Zealand. Part
of its disadvantage, however, has been that
it can be
open-ended and often too time-consuming (a
match can last
days) for the average spectator.
With the advent of "one-day cricket,"
however, a popular
spectator sport has been created. A
day out at a cricket
match can be not only a good time, but also
one that
guarantees a result.
It was in response both to the one-day
cricket phenomenon and
the resurgence of seven-man rugby that the
Taupiri Rugby Club
decided to put on a one-day sevens'
extravaganza.
Ken
Wilkinson and Gary Catley
The Taupiri Sevens was the brainchild of
two members of the
Taupiri Rugby Club, Ken Wilkinson and Gary
Catley, and it
remains their task to nurture their
creation as it continues
to flourish and grow.
1983 was the first year that New Zealand
were to enter a
national side into the Hong Kong Sevens;
domestically the
entire New Zealand sevens' scene consisted
of a national
sevens' weekend incorporating provincial
sides and a couple
of unimportant club sevens' tournaments.
Catley notes that
it was Ken's and my idea
to get sevens' rugby
started in New Zealand,
and in 1983 we took a
Taupiri Rugby Club 7s'
team to Australia, to the
Redcliffe Sevens in
Brisbane as well
as to the Fijian West
Bank Sevens.
The Australians and
Fijians had been playing sevens
for a while; they were
winning the Hong Kong Sevens
championship. New
Zealand hadn't been involved at
that step.
Wilkinson adds:
We got the idea from the
one-day cricket situation.
It was the one-day
cricket system which was actually
getting all the crowds,
and we could see a chance of
the club being able to
make some money out of a
one-day sevens'
competition.
It's entertainment
over one day -- all the
atmosphere, the people,
socializing, a band and
dancing afterwards; good
atmosphere and good rugby.
We approached the New
Zealand Rugby Union for their
support, but they had
their provincial sevens'
tournament, and they
weren't particularly
interested in aiding
club sevens' tournaments.
So we did it all on our
own.
Wilkinson and Catley went to Australia and Fiji
to learn what
they could about sevens' tournaments and
how to organize
them. What they found were events
upon which they thought
they could improve.
The result was the first Taupiri Sevens in
1984.
Sponsorship
The tournament never had trouble drawing
teams, but
sponsorship was difficult at the
beginning. Nevertheless New
Zealand Breweries and Air Pacific did sign
on as sponsors
from the beginning, and the tournament has
been a money-maker
for the club from the outset.
In 1990, more than 13,000 cans of beer were
sold at the
grounds, and the club netted more than
NZ$60,000 (US$35,000)
on tournament day itself.
In addition, Continental Airlines replaced
Air Pacific as a
sponsor, and the championship team received
a prize of 10
free round-trip tickets to the Hawaii
Harlequins' Sevens in
October.
Overseas Competition
The tournament began, and continues, as one
based on Auckland
and Waikato sides. Nevertheless, the
tournament organizers
have tried from the beginning to reach out
beyond these areas
to find attractions for the
tournament. Fijian participation
has been a regular feature of the
tournament, and in 1989
the Hyatt Fiji club, comprising several
Fijian national team
players, actually won the entire
tournament.
In 1989 Taupiri were excited not only about
the inclusion of
an American team, the invitational side
Atlantis, but also
Linwood, from Christchurch, the first South
Island side to
enter the tournament. Furthermore,
Hora Hora, a team from
the Bay of Islands area, also received
special mention
as the first team from this northernmost
part of New Zealand
to participate.
The tournament organizers were very pleased
with the American
representation; not only did Atlantis make
the quarterfinals,
but pleased the crowd as well.
Several people noted that
they felt the Americans' handling was
better than that of
even top New Zealand clubs.
Atlantis has been invited back in 1991, and
the tournament
organizers hope to add a Japanese team as
well.
Taupiri Rugby Club
The Club
The Taupiri club is a first division club
in the Waikato
league. Formerly comprised mostly of
farmers from the area,
recently Taupiri has been drawing on the
urban population of
Hamilton to maintain its high standards of
rugby.
Taupiri regularly supplies several players
to the Waikato
provincial side.
Grounds
Taupiri is one of the few rugby clubs in
New Zealand that can
boast three adjacent grounds on which to
hold their
tournament, and the tournament reminds one
of an American
sevens' tournament, with three simultaneous
games and the
crowd wandering back and forth to the game
that best suits
its fancy.
One drawback of the Taupiri fields,
however, is that there
are no permanent stands, and even the
temporary bleachers
erected for the day are far too
insignificant to accommodate
more than a fraction of the crowd.
Catley and Wilkinson see this as a
situation that will be
alleviated in the future; I see it as one
that must be
remedied if the tournament wants the number
of fans to
increase beyond the 6 to 8,000 that
currently attend.
One positive situation is the fact that the
entire rugby
grounds area can be sealed off; this means
that a practical
means exists for collecting the NZ$6 per
person admission
charge to the grounds. In addition,
adequate parking is
available.
One feature of the tournament that helps
lend it its unique
atmosphere and pleases the participants is
the ring of 24
tents around the ground. Each is for
the exclusive use of a
participating team during the day and
provides a frame of
reference not just for the team itself, but
for visits from
other teams, fans, etc. throughout the day.
Format
The original tournament format was for 20
clubs to compete
in 4 brackets of 5 teams each, with the top
eight advancing
to the quarter-finals.
As a result, it required seven games to win
the tournament.
Seven games over one day, with a nine-man
squad, is a brutal
endurance match, and was part of the reason
All-Black wing
John Kirwan referred to Taupiri as "the
toughest sevens
tournament in the world."
This format was maintained until 1990 when,
as a result of
pleas from the players, the tournament was
changed to 24
teams, utilizing the increasingly-popular
Hong Kong format.
In this format, three pools of eight teams
compete in
preliminary rounds to determine pool 1st,
2nd, and 3rd place
teams. The 1st place teams compete in
the Cup championship,
the 2nd place teams in the Plate
championship, and the 3rd
place teams in the Bowl championship.
Champions, Prizes
The Taupiri Sevens rewards outstanding
achievement not only
with trophies but also with good hard
cash. Depending on the
team's level of achievement, prizes range
from a couple
hundred to a couple thousand dollars;
Atlantis in 1990
received $400 for making it to the Cup
semi-finals.
In 1990 the grand prize winner received 10
free tickets to
the Hawaii Rugby Sevens' tournament in
October.
Clubs
The first six finalists, under the old
format, were:
Year
Winner
Runner-Up
1984
Ponsonby
Northcote
1985 Auckland
Marist Hyatt Fiji
1986
Manurewa
Ponsonby
1987 Auckland
Marist North Shore
1988 Auckland
Marist Fraser Tech
1989 Hyatt
Fiji
Auckland Marist
In 1990, the first year of the new format,
Auckland Marist
were the Cup champions, Ngongtaha (Rotorua)
the Plate
champions, and Linwood (Christchurch) the
Bowl champs.
Individual
The tournament selects back and forward
MVPs, each of whom
receives a pair of Laser Boots from the
Lydiard Sports
company. Winners include
Year
Forward
Back
1984 P.
Fatialofa
T. Wright
1985
J. Kirwan
1986 M.
Brooke-Cowden W. McLean
1987 Z.
Brooke
S. Pierce
1988 B.
Cooper
I. Wood
1989 P.
Lam
L. Erenavula
1990 P.
Lam
V. Tuigamala
Timing: the
Key
Taupiri's preoccupation with timeliness is
not unique:
certainly at Melrose, where the games are
scheduled 18
minutes apart and often find themselves
ahead of schedule,
timeliness is strictly observed, and Hong
Kong's scheduled
gaps between games are always scrupulously
observed as well.
Taupiri, however, has carried this
preoccupation to extremes.
Furthermore, their rules maximize the
percentage of the match
time that the ball is actually in play.
All games, on all fields, begin at exactly
the appointed
time. This is not left to the referee
to enforce: at the
sound of one siren, loud enough to be heard
by everyone at
all fields, all three games commence.
Seven minutes later,
half time begins. Two minutes later,
the second halves
commence. And seven minutes later,
all three games end at
the whistle following the siren (or in the
case of a penalty
kick, at the appropriate whistle according
to the laws).
But -- what if . . . , you ask? Here
are some answers.
o If there is an injury, teams continue to
play. The referee
may stop play momentarily to allow a
player to be carried
off, but the clock runs. The idea is,
If a player is too
injured to continue, he gets off and is
replaced; otherwise
he gets up quickly and resumes play. (I.e.
no fitness-related
"injury" times are tolerated.)
o If there is a score, the conversion must
be taken by a drop
kick. Taupiri want no time wasting
by place kickers.
(Catley noted that he is still unhappy with
time being wasted
at kickoffs after converted tries, and may
require all
kickoffs to be taken by drop kicks as
well. I left a North
American kicking tee with him, and
suggested that its use
might be a better solution to the problem.)
o If there is a tie in a pool game, it
stands.
o If there is a tie in quarterfinals or
semi-finals, then
a) the team with the
most tries wins; if both
teams have the same
number of tries,
b) the team that scored
the first try wins.
Situation (b) would have cost Atlantis a
6-6 quarterfinal
loss to Waitete in 1990 had Will Brewington
not scored
the game-winning try as the final siren
sounded.
Only if no tries have been scored is extra
time played; in
this case, a scrum is awarded at
midfield. The team to first
cross the opponents 22 (without kicking) is
declared the
winner.
In the finals, more traditional overtime
situations apply to
determine winners.
Significance
Taupiri
Not only Taupiri members, but several
players at the ground,
including forward MVP Pat Lam, commented
that the Taupiri
Sevens are now considered to be the best
club sevens in New
Zealand.
Furthermore, although Taupiri is not an
official part of the
All-Black selection process, national
selectors do attend,
and a good performance at Taupiri could get
a player a better
look in the National Sevens the following
week.
Also, the fact that the National Sevens
takes place the
following week makes it an ideal "tune up"
for players
wanting to shine at that event.
The Taupiri Sevens is also slowly becoming
a tournament of
choice not only for teams from the northern
part of North
Island, but for teams throughout New
Zealand, and organizers
hope that Linwood's 1990 entry is a
foreshadowing of greater
South Island participation in the future.
Sevens
In the English-dominated environment of
American rugby I am
continually forced to defend the importance
and significance
of sevens, so it is with great pleasure
that I can report
that my views are shared by many in the
Southern hemisphere,
particularly New Zealand.
Sevens is "taking off" in New Zealand;
whereas Taupiri was
probably the first sevens' tournament of
any significance in
New Zealand, within the past five years,
they've been
springing up everywhere.
Furthermore, sevens has been credited with
improving handling
skills in New Zealand, particularly among
the forwards.
Given New Zealand's credentials within the
rugby community, I
rest my case.
The Future
There is no question that Taupiri is not
content to sit on
its laurels, but is planning to raise the
level of the
tournament with each passing year.
When asked how Taupiri
would respond to challenges to its
supremacy from other New
Zealand venues, however, Catley noted that
"Well, if you
print your ideas before we implement them,
other teams may
get to use them before we do." I got
the feeling, however,
that Taupiri's promises to continuously
upgrade its
tournament are not idle boasts; certainly
its history to date
is one of achievement.
In my view, a significant increase in
seating for spectators
is absolutely necessary, and I suspect that
this will happen.
Television
Television coverage is an area that
Taupiri is struggling to
make happen. The NZRU has granted
exclusive rights to in-
season rugby coverage to [name of NZ
station]. The Taupiri
Sevens, however, falls outside the rugby
season, presenting
both drawbacks and opportunities. One
drawback is that TV
stations have commitments to broadcast
"summer sports" such
as cricket during the summer months.
The Taupiri Sevens' independent status,
however, also
provides the organizers with unique
opportunities, for
example to negotiate with [name and
explanation of new
(channel 3?) station], and these are being
negotiated.
In 1990, the Taupiri Sevens was introduced
to television
through a side door, the nightly "Holmes
Show." This show,
which is seen by more than half of New
Zealand's 2.8 million
TV viewers, is a news' features show along
the lines of
20/20, etc.
The Holmes TV crew spent virtually the
entire day of the
Taupiri Sevens at the ground filming games
and interviewing
players and officials. Unfortunately,
actual coverage of the
tournament was scaled back because the
discovery that the
kidnapped American girl Hilary {last
name?] was resident in
New Zealand was made at the same time as
the Taupiri Sevens
were being played.
Nevertheless, tournament organizers remain
confident in the
future of TV coverage, as well as in its
lucrative
possibilities: "Television coverage,"
commented Catley, "is a
virtual license to print money."
Spawner of Other Tournaments
Taupiri's importance has actually resulted
in other clubs'
forming their own sevens'
tournaments. To date this hasn't
resulted in direct confrontation with
Taupiri; on the other
hand, these tournaments generally precede
Taupiri, and teams
are using them as warm-up tournaments for
Taupiri.
These new tournaments, incidentally, should
be considered by
the better American clubs as tournaments in
which to test
their mettle; given Atlantis' success at
Taupiri, our top
clubs should certainly be able to compete
at these
tournaments.
In addition to New Zealand, Taupiri is
taking an active role
in helping the Hawaii Harlequins get their
tournament off the
ground; Hawaii's location, notes Wilkinson,
midway between
New Zealand and the American mainland,
could eventually
result in a greater participation of
American sevens' teams
in New Zealand.
Pre-Qualification?
As other tournaments begin to fill the
weeks preceding
Taupiri, it may well be that some teams
will be able to "pre-
qualify" for the Taupiri Sevens by their
performance in these
tournaments. Wilkinson noted that in
the past, Taupiri
actually resorted to qualifying tournaments
to fill the last
couple of spots in the tournament.
Although this didn't
happen in 1990, it is certainly a
possibility in the future.
"National Club Championship?"
When I explained the US format for
selecting an official
national club sevens' champion, neither
Catley nor Wilkinson
foresaw that as a near-term possibility in
New Zealand. A
more likely scenario is the development of
Taupiri as an
unofficial national championship tournament
(in fact, given
that the top teams in New Zealand are
located in Auckland, it
probably can already be said to fulfill
that role).
For example, Catley notes that "what you
describe is
happening in a small way now: Linwood was
the top team in the
Christchurch area and we invited them;
similarly with Hora
Hora in the north. It is likely,
then, that this process
will continue and that we will have several
regional
champions participating at Taupiri."
National Provincial Sevens?
Currently the National Sevens tournament is
held at
Palmerston North (near Wellington), the
first week in March.
Taupiri organizers feel that they could do
a much better job
at organizing it, and are entertaining a
proposal to do so.
Holding two tournaments at the same
location, two weeks in a
row, would be taxing, but is something they
would look
forward to.
International Club Sevens?
Wilkinson sees the conflicting seasons in
the two hemisphere
as precluding any real interchange between
top sevens' clubs
in the two hemisphere.
While recognizing this to be the case at
present, I will once
again put on my optimist's hat and comment
that I can see the
day when clubs want to test their sevens'
mettle against
clubs from other parts of the world.
Certainly Melrose's great achievement --
getting Sydney's
Randwick club into their 1990 tournament --
is an indicator
that this is happening even now.
I don't know how, or if, the logistical
issues will ever be
resolved. I do know, however, that if
they are, Taupiri
would be one of my choices as the
organization to do this
