PNG Pukpuks

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)

Spain struck first with a try to Inaki Villanueva in the fourth minute. Igor Genua converted for the Spaniards to lead 7-0. This was the half-time score.

Spain came out firing in the second half with two quick tries in three minutes to Angel Lopez and Genua to put them in firm control of the match at 21-0.

But the Pukpuks never gave up and fought until the end, scoring twice in the last two minutes through Wesley Vali and William Tirang.

Spain will face Germany in the World Rugby Seven Series Qualifier Final after they beat Chile 19-7 in the first semi-final.

This comes after a gutsy 14-10 win over Uganda in last night’s quarter-final at Hong Kong Stadium.

PNG’s points came from tries to Arthur Clement and Gairo Kapana, and two successful conversions from Emmanuel Guise.

The win has set up a meet with Spain today at 12:52pm local time (2:52pm PNG time). The other semi-final will be between Chile and Germany.

The winners will play off in the grand final.

Photo credit: Hong Kong Sevens Facebook Page

The Spaniards took a 5-0 lead after captain Angel Lopez muscled his way over in the 5^th minute of play.

The Pukpuks were dealt another blow early in the second half after Willie Tirang was sent off to the bin.

One man short cost the Pukpuks dearly as Pol Pla crossed over to make it 10-0.

Pedro Martin dived over the line to score the last try of the match for Spain in the 13^th minute.

The win for Spain saw them top pool G while the Pukpuks have also qualified for the last eight as runners-up.

In theirs first match of the qualifiers, the Pukpuks beat Uruguay 26-21 then went on to thrash Guyana 31-5 in the afternoon.

The Pukpuks will play Spain this morning at 9:22am local time (11:22am PNG time).

Arriving back to the country yesterday, Kalua said although the Pukpuks were thrown into the deep in the same pool with Scotland, New Zealand and Australia, the team put up a spirited fight.

He said that despite the difficult circumstances they were put in, the team did their best.

In their pool matches, the Pukpuks lost to Scotland 26-12, to New Zealand 31-7 and then to Australia 26-7.

The Pukpuks then lost to France 17-0 and Canada 33-20 missing out on a 13^th place play-off.

The Pukpuks showed fight in their opening match against the Scots despite going down 26-12 at Allianz Stadium.

The Pukpuks’ points came from tries to Gairo Kapana, Emmanuel Guise and a try conversion from Arthur Clement.

The second game against the Kiwis proved much harder for them, with the Pukpuks losing 31-7.

However, the men’s team did manage to cross the line with Nathan Baramun scoring in the first half, with Clement adding the extras.

The Pukpuks still have one game tonight against Australia at 8.35pm (7.35pm PNG time).

In their second match today, the Pukpuks went down to Kenya 47-5. The Pukpuks’ only points came from William Tirang, who scored in the 7^th minute of the match.

Down, but not out, the Pukpuks came back stronger in their third and last match of day one against Argentina.

Argentina struck first to take a 7-0 lead but the Pukpuks fought back and equalized through Tirang, who scored his second of the tournament. Emmanuel Guise converted to make it 7-7.