Palais resume training

THE Papua New Guinea Palais resumed training after receiving Covid-19 clearance upon their arrival in Monaco for this weekend’s Olympic repechage tournament.
The squad minus one player, who had tested positive to Covid-19 on their initial date of departure (last Thursay), departed Port Moresby for Monaco on Saturday via Singapore, Qatar, Paris, Nice, Monaco.
The player concerned was re-tested for Covid-19 on Friday and received a negative result on her third test.
PNG Rugby Union along with World Rugby and the tournament organisers looked into flying her to Monaco to join the team but due to the challenging flight schedules and connections from PNG, this was not possible.
In addition to one less player in the squad, work commitments have prevented the national coach Paul Tietjens from joining the team.
Assistant coach Robert Jones has stepped up as the stand-in coach for the Tournament.
Jones has been a member of the coaching team since 2019 and has built a good rapport with the players and is fully versed with game plan to be executed in the tournament.
To assist him, Michael Pettman, the technical skills and development coach from Munster in Cork, Ireland, will be joining the team in Monaco.
Meanwhile, Palais offshore team manager Anne Mooney told The National that the team had their first training session on Tuesday.
“It included a light run with ball skills and game strategy. They followed with training recovery and physio massage,” she said.
The Palais had undergone strength and conditioning training for the past six months prior to their departure.
PNG rugby union last year saw very little participation on the international sevens circuit following the continued restrictions between countries due to Covid-19.
The Palais need to claim a top-two finish as they prepare to face Kazakhstan, Jamaica and Tunisia for an opportunity to appear in the Tokyo Olympics which will be starting next month.