Palais hoping to clinch 7s medal

 By ISAIAH IGISH

PAPUA New Guinea women’s coach Sydney Wesley is hoping his side can earn a bronze medal play-off tomorrow after losing 19-0 to Australia on the second day of the sevens competition yesterday.

The Australians dominated possession throughout the game at the Sir John Guise Stadium with the tournament’s top try scorer in the women’s competition, Mahalia Murphy grabbing a double in the four-try win.

Australia’s other tries came from Sarah Halvorsen and Brooke Walker. Wesley said the Palais performed well but were rattled in the early stages.

“I guess the girls have learned a lot out of this,” Wesley said of the loss.

The Palais need to beat Samoa – who lost to Australia and drew with New Caledonia yesterday, to stay in contention for a medal.

“We are still in medal contention. We’ve got one more game to go but we just got to overcome it and then we’ll see the medal playoff chances,” Wesley said.

“We just need to work on our placing. All the time we hold the ball, we want to score. You can score but you also have to hold on to that ball. 

“Our hopes are still up. Just got to get over the last game against Samoa. 

Senior Palai Kymlie Rapilla said their combination was going well. 

“The new girls who came in have a lot of potential especially Freda (Waula) and Alice (Alois),” Rapilla said.

In the men’s last match of the night, the Pukpuks held off a determined Solomon Islands 22-7, with their neighbouring Melanesians coming close to causing the upset.

Results: Men: Samoa 45 Vanuatu 0, Nauru 0 Tonga 59, Fiji 50 Tahiti 0, Guam 12 Solomon Islands 27, New Caledonia 7 Samoa 24, Nauru 7 Vanuatu 47, PNG 22 Solomon Islands 7, Guam 43 Tahiti 7, Nauru 0 New Caledonia 50

Women: Australia 33 Tonga 0, Fiji 45 Tahiti 0, New Caledonia 5 Samoa 5, Australia 19 Samoa 7, Fiji 45 Tonga 0, PNG 48 Tahiti 0, PNG 0 Australia 19.