PNG Palais

The players were encouraged by PNG Pepes team captain Lua Rikis during their farewell today by the High Performance Sport Southern Centre for Excellence. 

Palais depart the country this week to play at two events at Fiji in November.

The 15s team will play against Fiji on November 5 to qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.

The 7s team will participate at the Oceania Sevens Championship from November 11-12 against Fiji, Australia, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and the Solomon Islands.

Palais will take on one of the toughest teams Fiji on Saturday, November 5 in Suva at ANZ Stadium.

The winner will advance to the final WRWC2017 Asia/Oceania Qualifier event in December in Hong Kong.

This Asia/Oceania Qualifier will feature two Asian qualifiers and one Oceania qualifier and the two highest placed teams will qualify for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland.

Larry said they’ve selected a strong team for this weekend’s match which is their main focus before competing in the Oceania 7s from November 11-12.

Palais will depart Port Moresby on Wednesday to participate at the inaugural Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship in November.

The 15s team will play against Fiji on November 5 to qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.

The 7s team will participate at the Oceania Sevens Championship from November 11-12 against Fiji, Australia, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and the Solomon Islands.

The players were given a mental preparation self-talk and motivational talk by PNG netball team Pepes’ captain Lua Rikis who has been an elite athlete for over 16 years.

PNG Palais 15s team will take on Fiji this weekend during the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship in Suva at ANZ Stadium on November 5.

The selected 21 players will depart PNG shores on Wednesday where they will meet up with six of the Brisbane based players before traveling to Fiji.

The team will be captained by regular and old time favourite Margaret Nauai.

Palais’ coach John Larry says preparations are going well and the team has been training since March.

They started off with 50 players and later trimmed down to 30 players.

After the 2016 National Provincial championships held last weekend in Port Moresby, The PNGRU has selected its extended squad for a 10-day training before training the team down to the final 12 for the Pukpuks Sevens team.

The two days tournament will also fully combine the men's and women's Sevens Championships for the first time.

THE PNGRU during the last week’s national provincial tournament also selected its female side to make up the PNG Palais squad, but is yet to be announced.

The game was played as a curtain raiser for the National Rugby Union Championship grand final match between Morobe Hammerheads and the Port Moresby Boromas.

The curtain raiser game saw 40 women put into two teams to play against each other for the selection.

A number of current PNG Palai players including Kymlie Rapilla, Joan Logona and Cassandra Sampson were also part of the teams.

The selected team will prepare for the Women’s World Cup inaugural qualifier against Fiji in November. 

Despite losing two of the three matches on day one of the Championship, the Palais made it to the semi-final going down to big guns Fiji.

The Palais finished in fourth place just ahead of Tonga. Five countries played in the Championship.

 “It was really tough for us going up against teams like Fiji and Cook Islands. Our defence was poor, we had poor ball handling and our attack was too shallow.

“But we gained experience and we will work on this and improve going forward. Every player gave it their best and we can only get better” said Kaore.

Pukpuks finish fourth at Oceania Sevens

http://www.looppng.com/content/pukpuks-finish-fourth-oceania-sevens

The PNG Pukpuks finished fourth out of 8 countries at the 2015 Championship in Auckland, New Zealand.

Palais finish fourth at Oceania 7s Champs

http://www.looppng.com/content/palais-finish-fourth-oceania-7s-champs

The Palais finished fourth out of five countries.

In their round 5 match this morning, they were thrashed by Fiji 43-0.

The Palais later met Fiji again in the semi-final losing again 40-0.

In the third and fourth play-off this afternoon, the Palais went down to Cook Islands 32-0.

Fiji went on to beat Samoa 55-0 in the final to book their spot in the 2016 Olympic Games sevens tournament in Rio de Janeiro.

Second placed Samoa and third placed Cook Islands have earned themselves invitations to the final qualification tournament for the Rio Olympics. 

It was a physical encounter but speed what was what the Australians had over PNG as they ran in their first try through Sarah Halvorsen to lead 5-0.

Minutes later, quick hands to the wing put a flying Brooke Walker in to score to extend Australia’s lead to 12-0 after a successful conversion.

Right from the kick off at the second half, Australia spread the ball out wide and a try resulted seconds later.

Australia held onto this lead until the final hooter.