Manutuke rugby 7s finish 25th

A small Gisborne school brought a positive attitude and a big effort to place 25th in the Zespri AIMS Games Rugby 7’s competition.

Manutuke School competed at the 22nd edition of the games, which were the biggest yet, with 14,506 athletes aged 11 to 13 from 467 schools competing across 27 sporting codes.

Rightious Barbarich of Manutuke praised his team’s efforts, highlighting the competitiveness of the game and the trust he had in his team.

The team fell short to proceed on to the next round after a tough pool match with 3 wins and 2 losses.

“My team performance was pretty good, and I am looking forward to more improvements.

I acknowledge our opponents, but I hope for improvements,” he said.

At the end of the competition, Henderson Intermediate topped the tournament after beating Rotorua Intermediate in the grand finale.