Construction company assists rugby sevens team with K5,000

The National Sports

ROAD construction company JV PNG Investment Construction Limited over the weekend came to the aid of a rugby sevens team, Aris, with a donation of K5,000 for their preparations for the upcoming Sports Tok 7s tournament at the end of the month in Port Moresby.
The Aris are pooled with Port Moresby’s Crusaders, Harlies 1 and Madang’s Guan Tamol in Pool C and are one of the four teams from Lae taking part in the 24-team tournament with the winner to walk away with the cup and K10,000 in prize money.
The other three teams from the Morobe capital also participating in the tournament are Lahi Jets, Lae Harlequins and defending Sports Tok 7s champions PC Ravens.
Club patron Makiroa Samoa told The National that team Aris was formed last year specifically to take part in sevens tournaments around the country.
Samoa said the club comprised youth with two of their players going on to be part of the Morobe Under-18 team under the Supporters Club Rugby Union Morobe (Scrum) programme.
“This is an achievement for a young team like us just recently formed,” Samoa said.
“We have a couple of players who have already participated in sevens tournaments while the rest are just young guys.
“We’ve been participating the sevens tournaments in Lae and our last tournament was at the Trans Highway 7s where we lost to Wap & Co Rams in the cup semifinals who lost to eventual winners City Lights in the final.”
Samoa said the Sports Tok 7s would be the team’s first tournament outside Lae and thanked JV PNG Investment Construction Ltd for its support.
He said Aris management and players appreciated what the company had done for it and said they were motivated to continue striving to play great sevens rugby while enjoying themselves and developing from the experience. He said the assistance would help the team travel to Port Moresby and return home.
JV PNG Investment Construction representative Sao Verave said this was the first time for the company to support rugby union and they were proud of their contribution to the sport and helping young talent.