Magpies beat Laumas on day 3 of Fuzzy Wuzzy 9s

By MELTON PAIS
SIPORO Magpies topped Pool B of the Fuzzy Wuzzy rugby league nines tournament beating, Funeral Home Laumas (2) 14-6 on their last regular round match at the National Football Stadium yesterday.
Earlier, wins over Miro Koivi West Black (30-10) on Sunday and Black Swan International Royals (16-4) were enough to keep Collin Geno’s side on top of their pool.
The Magpies were impressive against the big name Laumas (2) side, keeping them scoreless in the first half 14-0.
The Laumas managed a try in the second half through Aley Kuso.
Geno’s Magpies were undefeated over the last three days playing a high tempo but consistent style.
Coach Geno said they had not prepared much for the Fuzzy Wuzzy 9s but they had benefited from their involvement in the Corporate 9s. Geno said the Magpies biggest advantage was that they had played in several tournaments before and had retained the same squad, more or less.
National U23 nines coach and Gulf Isou coach said his team he was confident of making the cup semifinals but they would need to be wary of their opposition because of the quality of teams in the tournament.
“We have a couple of senior players like Isou hooker Ross Ravu who has played well to bring the team up to where it is now,” Geno said.
“I am proud of my boys for coming this far in the regular rounds but the finals are a another challenge so I’ll encourage them to dig deep and be ready for the finals.”
Geno said his only advice was to play hard, smart and start achieving the results from every contest.
Tournament director Manu Lofena said the top 16 teams out of the 28 teams would play in the cup and plate playoff while the bottom eight would play for the bowl.
The finals start today with the grand final tomorrow.