Sevens squads to trial tomorrow for spots to Sydney

THE Papua New Guinea Pukpuks (men’s) and Palais (women’s) sevens teams will play trial matches tomorrow at Bava Park starting at 8am, as the coaches access the final 12-member teams to travel to the Sydney 7s from Jan 26-28.
Both teams are no strangers to the Sydney 7s having played in the tournament over the past three years.
Sydney marks the beginning of a hectic year for both national teams as they prepare for the Commonwealth Games (April 14-15) which the Pukpuks have qualified for and the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco from July 20-22, were both the Palais and Pukpuks will feature for the first time.
The Pukpuks were joined by players from outside centres last Friday. Pukpuks coach Douglas Guise said preparations had not been ideal but they would be ready for Sydney.
“We will have a fitness block early in the morning (tomorrow), then will see how the boys hold up,” Guise said.
“The trial games will either be four quarters, if not will we just play three blocks of five minutes.”
“It’s not been ideal.
“A couple of boys have lost weight since our last tournament so we have really worked hard on their nutrition and weight training,” he said.
At the conclusion of the trail matches tomorrow the final 12-member squads for the Pukpuks and Palais teams for the Sydney 7s will be finalised.