The Manu Samoa Sevens have kept their hopes of qualifying for the Olympics alive with a 54-0 thrashing of Papua New Guinea in Auckland on Sunday.
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The win which secured Samoa third place at the Oceania Olympics Qualifying tournament means Samoa will join Tonga for the final chance to qualify for the Olympics next year.
Having done extremely well on the first day, Damian McGrath’s men capitulated against Tonga in the semifinal and were hammered, 45-5.
Manusina Sevens also has an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. The Samoa women’s team showed great promise and have improved markedly and by finishing second won a spot in the women’s World Rugby Olympic repechage tournament in 2016.
Joining them courtesy of beating Papua New Guinea in the third place play-off will be a delighted Cook Islands who were the surprise package of the women’s tournament. The tournament was won by Australia in men’s and Fiji in the women’s MEN’S FINAL
Under interim coach Tim Walsh Australia were superb over the two-day tournament.
Aggressive at the breakdown and clinical at the restarts and with ball in open play they scored 138 points in their three matches on finals day and conceded no tries or points.
Stand-out players were skipper Ed Jenkins, Greg Jeloudev and Tom Cusack along with Jesse Parahi who was playing his last sevens event before taking up a Super Rugby contract.
Attracting much attention also was 18-year-old newcomer Henry Hutchison whose pace and footwork marks him as a star of the future.
“After the disappointment of not qualifying through the World Series in London we have put in five months of preparation. We knew we had the chance to qualify but we lost our coach recently and credit to Tim Walsh the women’s coach who stepped in and has got us to this point and winning the event,” declared Australian captain Ed Jenkins.
“Now that we have qualified we can start to think properly about Rio. We can now plan the coming season that starts in Dubai soon but it is exciting times for sevens in Australia. One thing for sure the Rio tournament is going to be very tough but to be a part of it is tremendous for the team.”
WOMEN’S FINAL The Fijian women were the shining stars of their tournament and had pace, physicality and patterns of play that were too sophisticated for their opponents. Starring for Fijiana were Rebecca Tavo, Litia Naiqato and the dominating presence around the field of Rusila Nagasau who scored four tries in the final.
Final: Fiji 55-0 Samoa
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