The draw has been made for the Oceania regional qualifier for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 with all 11 Member Unions of the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions [FORU] represented across the men’s and women’s events to be held in the Samoan capital Apia from 25-26 July.
Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Niue and Tahiti will compete in the men’s event, with New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Samoa and Niue bidding to qualify for the first ever RWC Sevens women’s competition.
The top two men’s and women’s teams will qualify for the tournament 2009 in Dubai, joining defending champions Fiji, runners-up New Zealand and Australia who qualified automatically from the region by making the Melrose Cup quarter finals in Hong Kong in 2005.
Manusina, Samoa’s women’s side, has the honour of kicking off proceedings against New Zealand in the women’s competition, which will be played on a round robin basis with the top four teams progressing to the Cup semi-finals on 26 July and the fifth team’s challenge ending.
Fijiana, the 2007 Pacific Sevens women’s champions, then face Niue meaning that the first ever women’s Sevens team selected by Australia – coached by former men’s captain Shawn Mackay – will have a chance to see their opponents in action before facing them later.
The eight men’s sides are split into two pools. Samoa, the only IRB Sevens World Series core team in action, will play Niue, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in Pool A while Tonga, Vanuatu, Cook Islands and Tahiti make up Pool B.
Growing popularity of Sevens
Samoa, who have emerged as one of the powerhouses in Sevens rugby over the last couple of years, will start as favourites to qualify in the men’s event with a battle for the second place predicted between Tonga and the Cook Islands, both of whom excelled at the Adelaide Sevens this year, Tonga reaching the Cup semis and the Cooks beating England to reach the Cup quarter finals.
In the opening matches of the men’s competition, Samoa face Niue, Tonga tackle Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea meet Solomon Islands and the Cook Islands face Tahiti.
“We are honoured to be hosting this important event. What’s most exciting for us is that all 11 of the FORU Member Unions will be competing, which is wonderful news for the rugby public in Samoa,” said Sua Peter Schuster, CEO of the Samoa Rugby Union.
“The experiences we have learned from hosting the South Pacific Games, as well as the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup and the IRB Pacific Nations Cup have prepared us well to run this major sporting event and we are ready to host some of the best Sevens players in the region.”
FORU Chairman Harry Schuster added: “This is an exciting time for FORU and for rugby in Oceania. The fact that all 11 Member Unions will be competing in Apia reflects the popularity of Sevens rugby and the importance of qualifying for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009.”
For more information, visit www.oceaniarugby.com.
