Touch teams ready to defend 2015 Games title in Samoa

TEAM Papua New Guinea’s gold medallists in touch rugby are all fired up and ready to defend their title as they head to the Pacific games in Apia, Samoa.
The PNG men’s and women’s sides, both gold medal winners from the 2015 Games in Port Moresby, were confident during the official farewell for Team PNG at the Sir John Guise Stadium on Tuesday.
“Our goal is to go there and defend our title and improve on the silver and bring back three gold,” team manager Moro Kasisie said.
Kasisie said she was impressed with the teams who took part in this year’s Touch World Cup in Malaysia.
She said the World Cup exposure for the teams was vital in their preparations leading up to the Games.
“Our preparations have been going very well, we just returned from the World Cup and our women did very well there” Kasisie said.
“They improved on the last ranking from 10th to sixth (out of 35 countries). Our boys kept their consistency. They were the bronze medallists in 2015 (World Cup) and this time, they lost the bronze-medal playoff to a much-improved Japanese outfit.
“The players are prepared and we are all looking to continue our Pacific Games form in Samoa.”