A strong 20-man squad has been named in the PNG Pukpuks Sevens team, less than four weeks out from participating in the Hamilton sevens in Sydney, Australia.
Due to the in fights of PNG Rugby Football Union, much of the squad has been based and carried over from the 2016/2017 calendar year of tournaments.
The 20-man team has been finalised after the staging of recent tournaments in 2017, including NCDRU satellite 7s, Oceania 7s and the PNG games.
Both the men and the women’s PNG sevens teams are preparing for the HSBC 7s World Series tournament in Sydney but the sad fact is that, for such a successful sporting code, both teams are without a major sponsor.
Team official of the PNG Sevens, Douglas Guise, confirmed that the men are pooled with current HSBC 7s World Series champions, South Africa, and runners up England as well as Spain. Guise admitted it is a tough pool playing current number 1 and 2 teams of the world.
While the women are pooled with Australia, France and Spain, this promises to be a good challenge.
Port Moresby based players in the men’s squad have been training with the High Performance Training Centre while players from the provinces are expected this week.
The PNGRFU impasse has ended and both boards have merged. Guise hopes this will attract some sponsorship for both the PNG men and women’s sevens teams.
The main obstacle is funding and support. As it is, the team and officials have been relying heavily on family and friends for financial backing.
Considering that both teams are playing top tier nations, which are the best in the world, it is only fair that they are supported well. Guise says the PNG 7s teams deserve better, given the results they’ve produced for the country.
(File pic of PNG Palais’ Joan Lagona)