Lomu 7s for juniors

THIS year the profile of domestic rugby sevens took a major step forward in its development with the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union’s Export 7s Series.
The series held tournaments — Dawapia (New Guinea Islands), Tulait (Highlands), Sarawget (Momase) and Hetura (Southern) — in all four regions, providing regular high level competition for players.
The sevens series provided much-needed competition for the smaller unions, along with enabling coach and referee development.
As part of the continued development of sevens in the country, a Jonah Lomu Legacy Cup 7s tournament aims to nurture the rugby skills and talent of the next generation of players, shifting the focus to schools and grassroots development.
The Jonah Lomu Legacy Cup, named in honour of the former New Zealand All Black winger and famous rugby personality who passed away last year, will be held at the redeveloped Bava Park Stadium, in Port Moresby, from Dec 9-11.
The tournament is sanctioned by PNGRFU and will become an annual event on its calendar.
The Capital Rugby Union — the city’s only rugby competition — in partnership with the New Zealand High Commission, will use the tournament as a vehicle to raise funds and attract sponsorship geared towards their goals for junior development.
During the launch of the tournament last Tuesday at the New Zealand High Commission, CRU president Jacob Anga highlighted the need to shift some of rugby’s focus to junior development.
“Junior development must take centre stage before rugby can develop, whether it is school, club or representative rugby,” Anga said.
“PNG may have the interest and the funding, but do we have the technical know-how and structures in place to harness the skills of our junior players.”
New Zealand High Commissioner to PNG His Excellency Tony Fautua agreed with Anga’scomments.
“Without our juniors there is no future for PNG rugby, I know that’s quite harsh but we’ve got to develop our game from the ground up,” Fautua said.
“This is about starting a legacy for developing junior rugby. Boys and girls, schools and grassroots rugby.
“This in turn feeds into the PNGRFU,” Fautua said
CRU will provide the bulk of the 15 men’s and nine women’s teams that would take part in the first Jonah Lomau Legacy Cup.
Teams from Madang, Lae, Bougainville and Kimbe are also expected to field teams in the men’s competition. The registration fee is K500, and Anga pointed out that because the competition was geared toward raising funds and highlighting junior rugby, there would be no prize money.