By The Gisborne Herald’s Ben O’Brien-Leaf

Gisborne Intermediate School took their show on the road with two excellent performances at the 2019 Super 11 Rugby 7s.

The girls, placed third last year, won 6-6 at Mount Maunganui this time around to claim their second tournament title: scoring 30 tries (14 of which were converted) in the process.

The boys won four out of five games to be placed second. They beat Te Puke 28-24, Whakatane 24-0, Otumoetai 27-7 and Mokoia 36-5 in the semi-final, Tauranga winning the final 28-17.

The girls swept all before them in their round-robin tourney, with victories against the Mount (43-7), Te Puke (31-0), Taupo (20-10), Ilminster (22-15), Tauranga (19-5) and Rotorua (36-14).

Captain Rubi Hart and vice-captain Payton Wainohu did a top job leading the girls’ team. For Payton the highlight was spending time with her team and getting to know them better as she did what she loved most (competing).

Fellow Year 8 Rubi said: “We enjoyed being able, as Gisborne kids, to express our talent against other girls from schools outside our community.”

Deputy principal and coach Brendon Hart was delighted with the effort from both teams.

“The result was outstanding for the region, and shows that Gisborne can compete with many of the larger schools; Tauranga has more than 1300 students. More importantly, these kids represented our school, families and region with exceptional conduct on and off the field.”