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Day One of Oceania Sevens Olympic Qualifier

Every side had an opportunity to ‘reach for Gold’ during Day One of the Oceania Sevens Olympic Qualifier, held at Waitakere Trusts Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

This was an important stage for all sides to perform on, with the reward for the winning side–automatic qualification for the Olympic Games in Rio. Both Men’s and Women’s sides played several games each under the beautiful blue sky of Auckland. Local fans brought colour and laughter to help celebrate the sport of Sevens Rugby and with such a multi-cultural group, there was plenty of support on hand. The Samoan ‘red and blue’ representing the fan favourites support was very evident.

And friendly too, being at the Stadium myself I saw plenty of families and mates greeting each other fondly. Sitting on the grass banks or in the stadium grandstand, they brought lots of enthusiasm for this tournament (which had free admission) and I even saw a classic Ghostbusters shirt that I had not seen since my days at Massey High School, just up the road.

With such a big prize on the line, every side needed to begin well. With the Men in two pools of four teams, and the five Women’s teams all competing for the one qualifying place available, it was ‘all or nothing’. Below are the full days results (Pool A, B and Women’s) followed by some highlights over the days matches:

POOL A: Australia, Nauru, Cook Islands and Tonga

Match results – Tonga 29 Cook Islands 0; Australia 62 Nauru 0; Tonga 45 Nauru 0; Australia 48 Cook Islands 7; Cook Islands 45 Nauru 0; Australia 49 Tonga 0

POOL B: Samoa, Papua New Guinea (PNG) American Samoa and Soloman Islands

Match results – PNG 45 American Samoa 0; Samoa 48 Solomon Islands 0; PNG 52 Solomon Islands 0; Samoa 50 American Samoa 0; Soloman Islands 17 American Samoa 7; Samoa 41 PNG 7

Some terrific matches were played from the outset. While some one-sided results only bolstered the gap between, for example Samoa and the Soloman Islands men’s teams  (48-0) all teams showed massive improvements yet again. The focus on sevens programs from many nations and quite visible was the positive work at the ruck which led to some turnovers across all game. Discipline was good too–just a handful of Yellow Cards showing a respect for each other and the rules of the game.

During the Tonga v Cook Islands game, a crucial turnover after a promising Cooks attack, saw Tonga respond in quick time and that try was one of five tries they managed. Cheered on by a large ex-pat Tongan community, that may have been their best match because in all honesty Nauru were not troubling any side. Finally Australia put Tonga to the sword yes; underlining that Aussie sides top status. Possibly they faced lesser sides and the Thunderbolts are surely going to be a hard team to beat when it counts–in a Final.

In the other pool, Papua New Guinea had a couple of fine results until, like Tonga, they met the leading team (Samoa) Such a well drilled team. the Manu are a high-performing team and will be hard to beat in my mind. While Australia have a great leader in Ed Jenkins, Samoa had to enter this qualifying tournament with both a new coach in Damian McGrath and without their regular captain Lolo Lui. But full credit to all the men, who have drawn strength from their ‘brothers’ and put up some massive scorelines to possibly edge Australia as the team to beat.

Women’s teams: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Island and Paua New Guinea (PNG)

Match results – Samoa 35 Tonga 0; PNG 7 Cook Islands 29; PNG 20 Tonga 5; Fiji 48 Cook Islands 0; Samoa 31 PNG 7; Fiji 62 Tonga 0; Cook Islands 27 Tonga 5; Samoa 0 Fiji 19

It seems in the modern game, the women can hit just as hard as the men. All five teams challenged the others, with only the one real one-sided result–Fiji romping to a 62-0 win over Tonga. The Cook Islands girls fought hard and even as they too were victims of a Fijiana side who conceded no points themselves. Losing 48-0, it was the single loss for the Cook women and along with Papua New Guinea are certainly never an easy team.

Manu Sina, the women’s side from the leading sevens nation stood tall in their early matches until they were stopped by the rampant Fijians, although the top placed team gains automatic qualification for the Rio games, second placed runner-up goes to a repechage tournament for the last available places that make up the 12 teams competing at Rio de Janiero. World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series champions New Zealand, Canada Australia and Great Britain have secured places, as does hosts Brazil.

So on Sunday, all the cards need to be laid on the table in the Men’s competition. Several sides can still reach a possible final which will then be a super competitive ‘knockout game’. That is when the best side* will demonstrate their true strengths. So in the Men’s draw, there is one final pool match tomorrow morning before the top four sides (Cup) look to walk away from Trusts Stadium as one more team going to Rio in August.

  • Winners of the Oceania Sevens Olympic Qualifier tournament gain entry to Rio de Janeiro in 2016, with the runner-up and third placed teams then going to a repechage tournament to be held in June.

As my colleague Jovilisi Waqa said “Get ready for Pacific Sevens Rugby at it’s best!” and it definitely lived up to that billing. Day Two should be just as thrilling.

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WORLD RUGBY SEVENS SERIES begins with Round One in Dubai on 4th/5th December, 2016.

Follow all the Sevens Rugby action with our in-depth coverage on Last Word On Sports with Jovilisi Waqa and Scott Hornell.

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