PNG Palais

In the opening match of the men’s quarter-finals in Fji, Australia edged out the Pukpuks 22-21 to advance on to the semi-final.

The Pukpuks will meet American Samoa in the 5^th-8^th placed playoffs at 2:20pm (11:20pm PNG time).

The Palais were also unlucky, losing to Australia 25-7 in the first of the women’s semi-finals.

Australia will play New Zealand in the women’s grand final.

Not all hope is lost with the Palais to face off against Fiji for third place at 6:26pm (3:26pm PNG time).

(Photo credit: Oceania Rugby)

Results:

PNG Pukpuks def. Tuvalu 26-10, PNG Pukpuks def. Vanuatu 33-0, Samoa defeated PNG Pukpuks 31-14.

Results:

PNG Palais drew with Cook Islands 12-12, PNG Palais def. Tahiti 77-0, New Zealand def. PNG Palais 15-0.

Day two will start at 11am (8am PNG time) tomorrow morning, starting with the quarter-finals. 

In the opening match of the Championships this morning, the Palais settled for a 12-12 draw with Cook Islands.

Match 6 saw the Pukpuks down Tuvalu 26-10.

In the other matches today, the Pukpuks will take on Vanuatu and then later Samoa, while the Palais have dates with Tahiti and New Zealand.

The Oceania Rugby Sevens Championships started today and will end tomorrow with the finals.

(Palais in training – Photo credit: Oceania Rugby Facebook Page)

South Africa took the lead inside a minute when Zenay Jordaan scored.

Mathrin Simmers made it 10-0 just two minutes later to put South Africa in firm control.

But the Palais hit back immediately through Fatima Rama. A successful conversion from Joana Lagona put the score at 10-7.

A try to South Africa before the half-time whistle gave them some breathing space with a 17-7 lead.

Tries to Nadine Roos and Phumeza Gadu in the second half sealed the win for South Africa advancing them onto the next stage of the tournament.

The match will kick off at So Kon Po Recreation Ground at 9:22am local time (11:22am PNG time).

From Thursday’s results, the Palais defeated Colombia 19-0, then went down to South Africa 24-7, but came back to win their last match over Italy 12-5.

In the other quarter-final matches today, Belgium will play Netherlands, Italy take on Kenya and Japan will clash with China.

The team will participate at the Hong Kong 7s tournament from April 7-9, which is the qualifiers for the World Series.

Palais played their best at the Sydney 7s despite not registering a win.

They lost to New Zealand in the first match 34-5, and then went down to Canada 39-3 and France 31-10.

On day two, they lost to England 29-17 in the trophy challenge quarter-finals and got defeated by Spain 31-17 in the 11th place play-off.

Coach John Larry said their main focus is on the Hong Kong 7s.

France took a 19-5 lead at the break last night and ran in another two tries to win the match.

Lagona’s tries came in the first and second half. The 28-year-old has scored four tries in three games at the tournament.

The Palais (who are yet to win a game) will play England later today at 11.28am local time (10.28 PNG time) in the semi-finals for the Challenge Trophy at Kippax Field.

The tournament was scheduled from Feb 3-4.

(File picture) 

In their first match against the Kiwis at Allianz Stadium, the Palais were handed a 34-5 beating.

The Palais’ only points came from Joana Lagona who scored late in the second half.

Their second match against Canada saw a similar score line with PNG losing 39-5. It was Lagona again who scored the points with a try in the opening minute of the first half of play.

The Palais’ still have one more match left in the day against France at 7:22pm local time (6:22pm PNG time).

The John Larry coached side has four debutants and includes players from Mt. Hagen, Goroka and Lae.

“The team has been in camp in Port Moresby since December.

“We have two weeks of training left and a week before we go, we will name the final 12.

“We have some good players that were left out due to injury. But we also have some young girls coming up. We want to be the first team to qualify for the World Circuit,” said Larry.

Larry added the team still has experienced hands in the team to guide the team around the park.

Fiji took a 13-5 lead at the break through tries to Litiana Lawedrau and Esiteri Bulikiobo.

The Palais hit back just before the break, thanks to a try from Joanne Lagona.

The Palais were in again early in the second half when Debbie Kaore crossed over. This narrowed the score to 13-10.

But the home side ran away with the win with four more tries to seal a comprehensive win.

Fiji has now advanced to the next qualifying round for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup to be held in Hong Kong.

Photo credit: Fiji Rugby