SAWTELL Sevens is bringing back the Sawty 7s tournament after a 20-year hiatus, supported by the Coffs Harbour Snappers Rugby Club.

Now a one-day event, all the action takes place on Sunday 2 October, at Bayrange Rugby Park on Hogbin Drive, Toormina.

Games will start at around 8am with the final planned for around 3:30pm.

The day features Men’s and Women’s Tournament with Elite and Country Divisions playing for over $40,000 in prize money.

There will be around 35 games during the day with teams from all over attending.

“The Sawtell 7’s was the biggest 7’s tournament in the country in the 1990s, attracting all the top flight teams from Sydney and Brisbane,” one of the event organisers Nathan Hardaker told News Of The Area,
“It started in 1990 and went for twelve continuous years, last played in 2001.

“There were many super rugby players at the time that played in the tournament before rugby became more professional.

“The host club, Coffs Harbour Snappers, won the last year and was made up of semi-professional players such as Graydon Stainforth and Scott Stainforth who was a playing Waratah at the time,” said Nathan.

Regional player, Rebecca (Becc) Gordon, who represented Australia in American Football, having turned her fine-tuned attention to Rugby 7’s with the University of Newcastle (UoN) team, is preparing for the team’s trip up to Sawtell.

“This year I played my first season of rugby 15s with Hunter Wildfires in the Jack Scott cup,” Rebecca told NOTA.

“After a narrow semi-finals defeat, and a quick turnaround, the UoN Uni 7’s team will compete at Sawtell 7s as a warm-up for the national tournament.

“It’s great to play and visit Sawtell.

“There’s Wildfire girls from there, incredible rugby players and coaches there.

“We love the country rugby spirit and atmosphere on the Mid-North Coast,” she said.

The tournament will be followed by the official afterparty ‘Sawtell 7s Street Party’ hosted by the Sawtell Hotel and open to the public.

There is an event on Facebook with all the details: https://facebook.com/events/s/sawtell-7s-street-party/467355735148878/

By Andrea FERRARI