Palais exit in quarters at 7s

Sports

THE Papua New Guinea Palais reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Series qualfiers in Hong Kong, losing to South Africa 29-7 last Friday.
The tournament saw the Palais going up against some of the best women’s teams in the world.
PNG were in Pool C with the seeded team South Africa, as well as Italy and Colombia.
The Palais started their campaign with a 19-0 win against Columbia last Thursday.
In their second match, former circuit nation South Africa beat the Palais 24-7.  Regrouping after the loss, the Palais showed great determination to bounce back with a 12-5 win against a good Italian side in their final group match.
That victory allowed the Palais on their first outing in the qualifying tournament to advance to the quarterfinals.
After finishing third in their pool PNG were drawn against a well-drilled South African outfit, who again showed too much class for the brave Palais, beating them 29-7.
Palais vice-captain Casandra Sampson told The National that the team had greatly benefited from their maiden campaign at the World 7s Series qualifying tournament.
“The team did very well against countries that we have never played before and we played our hearts out,” Sampson said.
“We were able to hold out South Africa in the first half of the matches against them.
“We need to cut down on handling errors and improve on our communication on the field.”