PNG geared up for 7s

Sports

By ISAAC LIRI
THE Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union (PNGRFU) has achieved a massive milestone having the PNG 7s men’s team qualify for three legs of the HSBC World Sevens Series next year.
The tournaments are the Wellington 7s next month, Sydney 7s in February and the Hong Kong 7s in April.
With that achievement at the forefront, PNG 7s coach Douglas Guise and PNGRFU general manager Frank Genia officially announced the 25-man train-on squad for the three respective tournaments.
“This is the first time the PNG 7s men’s team have qualified for three HSBC 7s series, including the Hong Kong 7s, where the men will have the opportunity to qualify for a spot on the world 7s series,” Genia said.
Guise said their goal was to gain experience from the Sydney and Wellington tournaments and make it out of the pool stage in the Hong Kong edition.
“We know the Sydney and Wellington tournaments will be very competitive so we’ll use it to gain enough experience but we plan to make it out of the pool stage at the Hong Kong 7s,” Guise said.
Genia commended the satellite tournaments held in centres across the country this year as a major factor contributing to the success of the men’s team at the Oceania tournament last month, where PNG made the semi-finals, putting on credible performances against regional 7s powerhouses Samoa and Fiji.
“A lot of our preparations and success came off the back of satellite tournaments that the team have played over the year,” Genia said.
Guise summed up the year for 7s in PNG as a successful one compared to previous years, acknowledging the stakeholders and the member unions for the support and described the train-on squad as diverse.  “It is been a good 12 months for the national 7s programme,” he said.
Guise said they would have a trial match in Darwin as a build up to the Sydney 7s and the Moresby-based players in the squad would start training next week.
He said the squad had a lot of experienced players but he was excited at the number of new faces in the team as well.
Apart from the men’s, the women 7s team have also qualified for the Sydney and Hong Kong 7s.
Genia and Guise commended the coaching staff of the Palais for their success.
PNG 7s squad: Arthur Clement, Eugene Tokavai, Ben Kilala, Henry Kalua, Hensly Peter, Willie Tirang (Rabaul), Dean Manale, Daniel Opa, Emmanuel Guise, Isaac Aquila, HimahAlu (Port Moresby), Wesley Vali (Mendi), Jason Pitbang, Max Vali, Maluai Patala (Lae), Navu Nope, Gairo Kapana, Freddy Rova, Smith Ura (Central), Jimmy Pahia, Nathan Baramun (AROB), Joseph Mocke, Patrick Tatut Jr (Manus), John Paul Mango, Lionel Molpoi (Kimbe).