PNG 7s side qualify for three IRB tourneys

THE PNG sevens team have qualified for next year’s Wellington, Adelaide and Hong Kong sevens which are part of the International Rugby Board (IRB) world circuit.
PNG managed the feat after making the semi-finals of the Oceania sevens in Darwin over the weekend.
The side will now travel  to New Delhi to join Team PNG for the Commonwealth Games.
Grouped in pool A with Samoa, Niue and Tahiti, PNG lost to Samoa 24-7 but made up with wins over Niue (27-10) and Tahiti (38-0) to finish in the top two and progress to the quarter-finals.
PNG then went on to beat pool B opponents the Cook Islands 21-17 to reach the semi-finals.
The other pool B teams were Australia, Vanuatu and Tonga.
Newly appointed coach and former All Black Shane Howarth was pleased with the effort put in by the boys in qualifying.
“We beat the Cook Islands 21-17, but it was too close for comfort.
“The boys were a little flat in that game, but they dug in well at the end, as we were hard on defence.
“But we have qualified for Wellington, Adelaide and Hong Kong and that was our major focus,” Howarth said.
PNG lost to Samoa 17-10 in the semi-final and then dropped the third place playoff 12-7 to Tonga.