Pukpuks off to Sydney 7s, set to face big guns

By HUXLEY LOVAI
The PNG Pukpuks rugby sevens team left the country yesterday to begin their gruelling campaign playing in back-to-back tournaments.
Sydney will be their first port of call with matches beginning on Friday before the Pukpuks travel to New Zealand for the Hamilton Sevens on Feb 3-4.
Coach Douglas Guise said he would be using these tournaments as a build up towards the Hong Kong World Rugby Sevens Series qualifying tournament from April 6-8.
“Our main focus is Hong Kong, we just want to test out a couple of boys in these lead-up tournaments in Sydney and Hamilton,” Guise said.
“The next six weeks in the lead up to Hong Kong, that’s when we will knuckle down in training, really focusing on qualifying for the rugby sevens series.” Guise said the team’s final week of training at home has centred around game plans and ironing out the team’s systems, getting the new players familiar with what was expected of them.
With the Pukpuks playing in back-to-back tournaments, the main concern for Guise would be ensuring that his players emerge injury-free after the tour.
“Our main challenge is the recovery between games. This year we will be taking our own physio. Last year we had to make do, with our boys struggling with a few injures,” he said.
The Pukpuks are in Pool C with South Africa, England and Spain.
Pukpuks match schedule for the Sydney Sevens fixtures: Fri, Jan 26 – PNG v South Africa; Sat, Jan 27 – PNG v England, PNG v Spain.