NOJA Power Sponsored Tribe7 women’s rugby sevens team sweeps Germany and Wales aside to win major European tournaments

Electrical switchgear engineers NOJA Power today extends its congratulations to the Tribe7 women’s rugby sevens team on its successes during the side’s May 2014 European tour. NOJA Power is the main shirt sponsor for Tribe7 and the company’s support helped towards the funding of the European tour.

Tribe7 took part in four tournaments on the European tour visiting Amsterdam, Paris, Bournemouth (U.K.) and Tours (France). The team won the Amsterdam sevens event (the world’s biggest non-International Rugby Board (IRB) tournament) beating 12 national teams to the title, including a 40-5 victory over Wales in the final. Another triumph in Paris followed that victory at the Centrale sevens tournament where Tribe7 overcame a German side after dispatching Tunisian and Ukrainian teams on the way to the final. The team was then runner-up in the Bournemouth event and semi-finalist in France losing to the French University side that ran out eventual champion. Progress at the latter events was all the more notable because the team was reduced to nine players in Bournemouth and seven in Tours while facing teams with squads of 14.

Rugby sevens is a variant of rugby union but played with seven-a-side teams. Sides use a full-sized pitch and the space vacated by fewer players encourages free-flowing rugby leading to exciting games. Rugby sevens will be included as an Olympic sport for the first time in 2016. Tribe7 was established to provide female athletes without a rugby background the opportunity to play elite level sevens with and against the best players in the world. These players are predominantly drawn from a touch football background. The key objective of the Tribe7 club is to get the women’s skill and talent recognised by national selectors in the hope that they will be chosen to represent Australia at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016.

The club has already succeeded in part when Emma Tonegato, Vani Pelite, Charlotte Caslick and Nicole Beck graduated from Tribe7 to the Australian national team in 2013 and 2014. And in the team announced to represent Australia at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (China) in August, five Tribe7 players were selected in the squad of 12 (Laura Waldie, Marioulla Belisis, Dominique Du Toit, Shenae Ciesiolka and Caitlin Moran).

“NOJA Power is proud to be the main shirt sponsor of the Tribe7 women’s rugby sevens team,” says Neil O’Sullivan, Managing Director of NOJA Power. “On behalf of the company I extend the heartiest congratulations to the team on their highly successful European tour, especially on their triumphs in the Amsterdam and Paris events. Like NOJA Power, the Tribe7 team is dynamic, tireless and, above all, a leader in what it does.”

About Rugby Sevens

Rugby sevens is a variant of rugby union but played with seven-a-side teams rather than the 15-a-side of the traditional game. Sevens games are played on a full-size pitch but because of the greater intensity of the event, matches are limited to two halves of seven minutes (or ten minutes for finals). Teams consist of three forwards and four backs with five substitutes. Scrums comprise three players from each side and conversions are dropped kicked rather than using the spot kicks of the full game. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific. Rugby sevens will be included as an Olympic sport for the first time in 2016.

About Tribe7s

Tribe7s is an international invitational rugby sevens club, based in Brisbane, Australia. The club was established to provide female athletes without a rugby background the opportunity to play elite level sevens with and against the best players in the world. A key aim of the club is to expose the skill and talent of the players to Australia’s national selectors in the hope that they will get the opportunity to represent the country at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016.Rugby sevens is the fastest growing female sport in the world. European, American & Asian nations are investing heavily in the game on the back of its recent admission as an Olympic sport. Many of the girls playing for Tribe7s will go on to represent Australia at the Rio de Janeiro Games. The Australian team is rated as a realistic medal contender.