Day Two at Asia-Pacific Womens Sevens Tournament

PNG hottest tip for crown, Cooks a shot at Plate, Tonga and Samoa to duke it out for the Bowl

The PNG girls have emerged as the hot tip to take out the Asia-Pacific Women’s crown as they notched up the inaugural Tournament’s biggest win after smashing Singapore 54 – 0 in their Semi Final match, enroute to today’s final.  The one sided affair saw PNG showing the gallant Singapore girls a clean pair of heals, and the match was never in question.  PNG will meet Asian giants Kazakhstan, no less impressive, in the Final.

The Cook Islands will take on Singapore to decide the Plate winners (3^rd v 4^th playoff), after losing to Kazakhstan in their Semi Final.  This Tournament has been a steep learning curve for the Cook girls, however they have acquitted themselves well, and have performed better than their more fancied Island cousins Samoa and Tonga.

Samoa started the Tournament well with a 41 – 0 win over India on Day 1, however then fell away after some close losses in the remaining pool and quarter final matches.  As with Day 1, they were aggressive in attack, however could not convert their opportunities, and then lapses in defence proved costly for this Sevens Nation powerhouse.

Tonga were schooled by all their opponents across the tournament, that bash and barge is no match for speed, skill and finesse in this game of rugby sevens. They will hopefully take a lot out of this tournament and build on the opportunity and experience to compete against some of the top class international women’s teams.