The PNG Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams were impressive despite going down to Samoa and Fiji in the recently concluded Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship held in Brisbane, Australia.
After defeating PNG, Samoa Men’s and Fiji Women’s booked direct entry for the 2024 Paris Olympics Games in France; but for PNG, it was a hard luck as they focus on their Challenger Series.
Both Men’s and Women’s teams enjoyed undefeated runs until their final matches where they were given reality check by the top tier sevens teams.
PNG Rugby Union President, Paul Siwi said: “The PNG Men’s and Women’s 7s teams may have missed out on direct qualification to Paris Olympics with Samoa Men’s and Fiji Women’s taking out the Olympic direct spot.
“But finishing as one of the two next best placed sides alongside Tonga, PNG have qualified for the final Olympic Qualifier next year and also the World Challenger Series.”
Siwi added that the World Challenger Series will be three tournaments next year where the top four sides at the end of that series that play the bottom 4 sides at end of next season.
This is to qualify for the following season’s World 7 series, this means plenty of tournaments for PNG 7s Men and Women next year to continue to build on.
The PNG Rugby Union president is adamant that the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands will help the PNG 7s teams on their international events, as he expects Tonga Samoa and Fiji to file in the same team in the Pacific Games.
Siwi said: “The 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara gives us a further opportunity to play Tonga, Samoa and Fiji again for game experience.”
The PNG Sevens teams remains hopeful for the future international events after the 2023 Pacific Games.