Tietjens aiming for upsets

Sports

PAPUA New Guinea Palais coach Paul Tietjens believes he has given his Papua New Guinea team the best possible preparation as they put the finishing touches to their training for the Sydney leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series this weekend.
Tietjens said his team, sponsored by International Container Terminal Services Incorporated South Pacific, would start as underdogs in the opening match against New Zealand at 12pm (PNG time).
But the fact that the Palais, will be facing off against tier-one nations such as New Zealand is not going to intimidate his players to deviate from what they have been practising during training.
“We will focus on what we can control, put pressure on New Zealand and target their weaknesses,” Tietjens said as the team preparations hit the home stretch leading into the tournament which kicks off on Friday.
Tietjens said after three high performance training camps — two in PNG and the third in Sydney over the past week — that “we’ve got a relatively consistent team’’.
“The girls have worked hard,” he said.
“We’ve built a good culture where everyone is prepared to work for each other, play consistently and put pressure on the core teams.
The Palais, from a tier-two rugby nation, are pooled in pool A against New Zealand, England which they play in their second game at 2.28pm and France at 5.12pm.
Pool B has Canada, Russia, Ireland and Fiji while Australia, USA, China and Spain make up pool C.
Tietjens believes he has done his homework on the opposition and his team hasn’t drifted too far off their initial objective to cause upsets at this tournament. “We are fine tuning how we want to play,” he said.
PNG is considered a tier-two country in rugby and qualified for the series after finishing ahead of other teams of similar rating at the Oceania Sevens in Fiji last year.
The Pukpuks were pipped to the position by Tonga.
Tietjens said the Palais had pace and speed and some size, giving them a good balance to be competitive against quality opposition.
He named captain Kymlie Rapilla and Debbie Kaore for their size and pace, Fatima Rama, Cassandra Sampson, Gemma Schnaubelt and Taiva Lavai, among players who are game breakers that can cause headaches to opposition teams if they play to their potential.
The rest of the players — Helen Abau, Yollanda Gittins, Anika Butler, Melanie Kawa, Geua Larry, Lynette Kwarula and Gwen Pokana — are all aiming to step up and wear the national colours with pride if picked to take the field.
Mala Mark unfortunately had to return home on Monday due to injury.
Tietjens has a side that the opposition doesn’t really know much about and the unknown talent is something that could be an advantage against rival sides.
“We are not here just to make the numbers and if we play consistently and play to our potential, we can cause some upsets,” he said.
After the tournament, the Palais will regroup and begin preparations for the Hong Kong leg in April.
Meanwhile, Tietjens has commended ICTSI South Pacific, Credit Corporation, National Gaming Control Board, G4S, Gateway Hotel, PNG High Performance Centre and Axellerate Sports for their support.