THE Digicel PNG Pukpuks were hammered in Wellington Rugby Sevens over the weekend in New Zealand.
The Digicel Pukpuks lost all their pool matches against better prepared opponents in Samoa, host New Zealand and Canada. The Pukpuk’s attempt to erase their bitter memories last year could not go any further after their pool matches.
In the first game against Samoa, the game was evenly contested, where the Papua New Guinea boys stood out and did some good runs but were short of the try line due to their own errors and speed. They outplayed their Pacific island brothers but could not score due to lack of speed stars in the team, where Samoa capitalised to bypass Papua New Guinea players to raise home victors 22-0. Players who stood out were Gina Ponda, Joseph Wamapiri and Alistair McLay.
In the second game against, New Zealand, PNG had no answer to All Blacks fastman Ranger, Tomasi Cama and Vito, who used their speed to out ran PNG players.
New Zealand led 19-0 at half time and came back to score 22 unanswered tries to win the match.
According to Francis Dira, a New Zealand resident, the Pukpuks had more problems with speed and fitness to provide a good fight. The only fastest man for the Pukpuk was Gina Ponda while the rest of the team were having difficulty in running and the stamina to fight back.
In the third and final of the pool matches, PNG took on Canada. It was an equally contested affair although the pukpuks showed class in the first half of the game with Gina and Wamapiri showing some pace, leadership and strength in the game with 17-17 at half time. However, in the dying minutes, referee had to send off Aiem Pilakos, who is renowned for high and elbow tackles and Gina Ponda for a foul play assisting Canada to capitalise and add their points on the board.
Dira said the Pukpuks’ inexperience also cost their game in the last minute when they would have played around with the ball to find the upright, which was near to them but opted to kick the ball, which allowed Canada to take the ball into touch. The Pukpuk lost 17-21.
In the Shield semi finals, Kenya sent the PNG boys back to the classroom with a 41-7 hiding victory. The Kenyans were too fast and had a strong defence which PNG could not penetrate and bypass.
Dira said “They also need more games too build up their skills and attitude in the game itself .There is a need to develop young players who have the skills and passion to play competitively at the international level instead of selecting the old players, who have not contributed much in the game itself”.