Palais finish third in 7s tourney

THE Papua New Guinea Palais finished the Asia Pacific Women’s 7s in Borneo two places short of last year’s championship finish.
Coach John Larry’s side belted Hong Kong 29-17 in the third and fourth place play off yesterday to consolidate their third placing.
“The girls pushed Australia to their limits in the cup semi finals earlier in the day, but were unfortunate at the end, losing to Australia 12-7,” Larry posted on his Facebook page.
The Women’s World Sevens Champions had scored two quick tries in the first three minutes of the first half, but the Palais held them scoreless for the rest of the match.
“Cassandra Sampson scored an awesome individual try after latching onto a pass from Jill Yallon inside our 40m and raced away from her Australian opponents.
Even the Australian head coach admitted that the better had team lost,” Larry posted.
The Palais finished top of Pool A on day one with wins over Hong Kong 35-24, Thailand 26-12, and Korea 19-0.
A fight back from 12 points down to draw 19-all with Asia’s number one ranked China in the final pool match of day one earned the Palais their pool topping standing.
Australia were crowned champions with a 36-17 win over a plucky Japan side in the final.
The world champions class and experience eventually shone through when they ran away with the match in the second half.
Japan went through to the final with a 37-0 trouncing of Hong Kong.