Ravens remain upbeat despite falling short of sevens title

By PATRICIA KEAMO
TWO-TIME champions Papuan Compound Ravens remained upbeat despite bowing out of the Sports Tok Sevens rugby union tournament semifinals after their 24-29 defeat by Sisilpak on Sunday.
The Lae-based team won all their pool matches and advanced to the playoffs before they fell short of the Cup final. Skipper Ipson Tete said Ravens gave their best, but they were unable to make the finals.
He said they were focused on preparing for the fifth edition of the tournament which was scheduled for June.
“We wanted to win a third-straight title, but fell short of the final,” Tete said.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board to get the basics right and come back next year.
“I think the other thing that affected our performance was the double postponement of the tournament.
“We were training each day and the deferral affected our mental preparations.
“We were prepared for the initial date of the tournament, but they postponed it to October which didn’t eventuate.
“Mentally, we were affected, but we can’t use it as an excuse.”
Tete said Ravens had recruited three new players for their campaign and they were looking at adding more faces to the team.
“We prepared well for the tournament, knowing that the other teams were going to competitive against us,” he said. “They got us on our feet throughout those five matches on Saturday and Sunday.
“We need to work more on our fitness because the team that beat us in the semifinals (Sisilpak) were better prepared than us fitness-wise.
Tete said the Ravens would now concentrate on improving their fitness.