Star back for Palais

THE Papua New Guinea Palais will have main strike weapon Joanne Lagona back for the final Oceania Women’s Rugby Championship match against Tonga tomorrow.
The talented speedster was not picked for Tuesday’s clash with Fiji on disciplinary grounds and had to watch the Palais get outclassed 96-0 by the home side at Churchill Park, Lautoka, Fiji.
Coach John Pangkatana said his side had regrouped well from the record defeat and were focusing on their final fixture against a Tongan team yet to win a match after going down to Samoa 68-7 in the second round.
“The scoreline was disappointing. It was a massive blow for us,” Pangkatana said.
“There were a lot of contributing factors to that loss.
“We were just not on the same playing field as the Fijians. It was really a total mismatch. We just couldn’t contain them.
“I think Fiji really stepped for us and played harder and it showed. They probably rose a level from their game against Tonga,” he said.
“We’re mostly sevens oriented and we looked to spread it but we couldn’t get our attack going.”
Pangkatana added that Lagona’s presence would not have made a difference to the result but he said having his best players on the field was important however he would not tolerate poor attitudes from any of the squad member regardless.
“We had to take disciplinary action with Joanne the night before the game because we can’t accept the poor attitude to the team and training she showed.
“She’s our best player but we need to have some standards and players can’t just do whatever they want.
“She apologised to the team and we’ve moved on and are looking forward to our final game against Tonga on Saturday,” Pangkatana, who has had extensive coaching experience in the Port Moresby competition with the University club, but is in his first term as the women’s national coach, said.
Pangkatana said one positive from the loss was that his side were able to win all their scrums despite being offered the option of uncontested scrums by championship organisers on account of the Palais’ lack of experience in that set piece.
“Before the championship we were advised to take the uncontested scrums because of our lack of experience because of our limited 15s back home and with the focus mainly on 10s and 7s but we actually won all our scrums which was something positive.
“The side has put the game behind them and we’ve trained well over the past couple of days are looking to the game against Tonga.”
Pangkatana said Tonga would be another challenge and one that they would not take lightly.
“On paper at least, we look to have the better chance against them but we’re not over confident. We’ll be looking to match them in the forwards and counter attack at every opportunity.”
Fiji and Samoa will battle it out for the Oceania title in the main game at 3.30pm (12.30pm PNG)
Both teams are undefeated and expected to rise to the challenge in the title decider at Churchill Park.
In the first game at 1pm (10am PNG), the Palais take on Tonga in a battle for third spot.