Tough return for PNG

PAPUA New Guinea had a tough return to the Wellington Sevens leg of the HSBC world rugby series circuit in New Zealand, losing all matches in the pool stage and playoff placings over the weekend.
The tournament won by South Africa with their 26-5 win over Fiji in the cup final at the Westpac Stadium was the pinnacle of a three-day tournament that saw dwindling numbers through the turnstiles.
Coach Dougie Guise’s side leaves Wellington this afternoon for Sydney where they will meet up with the PNG women’s team (Palais) as they prepare for the Sydney 7s this weekend.
PNG were in Pool A with England, Kenya and Argentina – top tier countries currently world circuit.
The PNG Pukpuks lost 40-0 in the opener against a powerful England side on Saturday.
Despite losing their next four matches, PNG managed to cross the line at least once in games against  Kenya (47-5), Argentina (41-14), Wales (29-7) and Samoa (35-7) in the shield semifinal.
“There was a high chance of the boys struggling coming up against top tier nations that are on fully funded full time programmes,” Guise said.
“We will be using the Wellington and Sydney sevens tournaments to expose our boys to this level of rugby in preparation for the Hong Kong Sevens in April.
Guise added that the team needed to improve its structures and systems and move on from there.
“Game-wise, we are not far off as seen with half time scores. Our boys lack strength as we don’t have strength and conditioning programmes,” Guise added.
Team manager Damaris Minikula added that PNGRFU needed to get serious with full time programmes for their representative teams, particularly when qualification onto the World Sevens Series was at stake.
“World Series tournaments such as the Wellington and Sydney are serious business and we’re up against the top tier nations in the world,” Minikula said.
“Our boys went to Fiji for the Oceania 7s last year with no support from PNGRFU, yet qualified for the Wellington, Sydney, and Hong Kong sevens this year.
“That means we have natural talent. We now need strong managers at PNGRFU to take rugby forward.
She thanked the team’s major sponsor Minerals Resource Development Company as well as the minor sponsors, the families and unions in PNG for their support.