Papua New Guinea Rugby Union (PNGRU)

The tournament is slated for June 18-26 at the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium in Port Moresby.

The Pukpuks will play against the Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Niue, Vanuatu and an invitational overseas based PNG side.

PNGRU CEO Sailosi Druma stated that due to the pandemic there has been a lack of internationals in the last two years. This tournament will be used as a warm up to the Oceania Cup, which will also be held in Port Moresby in October this year.

A 28-member men’s squad and a 30-member women’s squad were released by the PNGRU recently for the upcoming qualifiers for the Commonwealth Games and the World Sevens series.

PNGRU said the train-on teams would begin preparations for the Oceania qualifiers for the two major events later this year, in Queensland, Australia.

The men’s team will be coached by Ian Leklek and the women’s team will be coached by John Larry.

According to development manager, Sailosi Druma, only 12 players from each squad will be selected and prepared for the qualifiers.