$75K Worth Of Prize, With Three Divisions For Coral Coast 7s

The two-day McDonalds Coral Coast Sevens is giving out $75,000 worth of prize money according to founding chairman, Jay Whyte.

“In the men’s division, 16 teams will be playing for the first prize of $20,000. The women’s division which has got 12 teams will be playing for $15, 000,” Whyte said.

“There is prize parity in the women’s division because it’s equal money as $15,000 for 12 teams and if there were 16 women’s team, they would be playing for $20,000. The youth division will be playing for first prize of $10,000.”

Whyte said the prize money could lead to the transformation of a club team.

“There is a lot of money to play for in the tournament,” he said.

Whyte said they were grateful to have Renata Roberts Tenana (son of former All Blacks 7s veteran Karl Tenana) who will feature in the Ambassador All-star sevens team.

“I would say he has similar traits to his father as he’s very sharp on attack and he’s good off both feet.

He is also strong in defense which will be a great addition to the side,” Whyte said.

“Karl mentioned that Sir Gordon Tietjens always thought his son Renata would make a great sevens player, so we’ll see what happens.”

Renata Tenana last played in the wing for the Old Glory DC side in Major League Rugby (MLR) in United States.

“He spent a few years playing in the MLR with Old Glory DC and he played as well in the Mitre 10 Cup so he’s a handy player,” he said.

“We should expect to see some quite good players in this tournament.”

Meanwhile the 16 teams in the men’s division has been finalised with the inclusion of the Tubarua Highlanders from the upper etches of Sigatoka River, Navosa.

“The Tubarua team is from the interior of Navosa. They were competing in the youth division and now have a men’s team,” he said.

“The tournament is all about providing pathways for players who might not necessarily get the exposure. We have seen in the past, when Yamacia won in 2013 they had three players go on to play for Fiji.”

Whyte is proud of the achievement the tournament has in exposing raw talents.

“We give teams and players the opportunity to put themselves in front of the selectors. Ben Gollings will obviously be there, and it’ll be great to see someone put their hand up for selection in the national sevens team.”

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