The quest to qualify for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 moves to the Samoan capital Apia this weekend with all 11 Member Unions of the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU) involved across either the men’s or women’s competitions.
Two qualification spots for Dubai next March are on offer in both, with eight nations contesting the men’s event at Apia Park and five battling for honours in the women’s event and their place in history at the first ever RWC Sevens women’s competition.
In the men’s event Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Niue, Solomon Islands and Tahiti will be split into two pools on Friday, with the top two in each advancing to the semi-finals on Saturday.
The women’s competition – involving Samoa, Fijiana, New Zealand, Australia and Niue – will take the form of a round robin on Friday with the top four nations then progressing to the semi-finals on Saturday.
With defending RWC Sevens 2005 champions Fiji, runners up New Zealand and semi-finalists Australia already qualified for the 2009 showpiece in Dubai, Samoa will be favourites to join them through the Oceania men’s qualifier.
Samoa are the only core member of the IRB Sevens World Series involved in the qualifier – having failed to reach the Melrose Cup quarter-finals in 2005 – and will be lead by their inspirational captain Uale Mai.
However the hosts, who have been drawn in Pool A with Niue, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, will certainly not be underestimating the threat to their RWC Sevens qualification target from the likes of Tonga, Cook Islands and PNG in particular.
Tonga caught the eye with their performances on the IRB Sevens World Series last season, reaching the semi-finals in the Wellington leg before narrowly losing to Samoa 24-21 and then winning the Plate in Adelaide.
Some of the captain's dreaming of RWC Sevens 2009 qualification, including Cheryl Soon of Australia and New Zealand's Melissa Ruscoe - Photo: Bruce Southwick/Zoomfiji
Cook Islands, though, also made headlines by beating England in the Wellington pool stages and then another core side Argentina in Adelaide. They also edged Papua New Guinea 24-17 when the sides met in the Bowl semi-final in Wellington.
Tonga and Cook Islands meet in the final Pool B match on Friday, having opened their campaigns against Vanuatu and Tahiti respectively in a tournament which IRB Sevens Manager Beth Coalter expects to prove interesting.
“I think it is going to be quite an interesting weekend down there in the southern hemisphere with the Samoan men having to qualifying after failing to be one of the top eight in the Hong Kong event in 2005,” Coalter told Total Rugby.
“Samoa and Tonga both head up separate pools so they have got to play off against teams like Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands. Tonga are quite a strong team at the moment, they are not a core team on the Sevens World Series, but they have actually managed to get themselves quite a few points in doing exceptionally well in the tournaments they have been in.
“It will come down to a Samoa-Tonga final I would think, but at least if the two of them get through we have probably got the two strongest sides, but I wouldn’t discount Papua New Guinea nor Cook Islands.
“I think that is what is so exciting about this is the fact that you can’t naturally assume that these teams are going to get through, of course we are going to be surprised if they don’t but there is that opportunity [for others]. It is there for them to be able to do this and that does not happen in any of the other World Cup qualifiers.”
Exciting times for women's rugby
The women’s event is an equally exciting prospect with Fijiana the reigning Pacific Women’s Sevens champions after beating Manusina – the Samoan women’s side – in the final last December, while Australia and New Zealand are fielding their first ever national Sevens sides in a bid to qualify for RWC Sevens 2009.
Australia and New Zealand both have experienced coaches at the helm in Shawn Mackay, who captained Australia on the IRB Sevens World Series, and Dallas Seymour respectively, the latter having coached the Black Ferns to the Women’s Rugby World Cup titles in 1998 and 2002.
The New Zealand women have also had the benefit of working with Gordon Tietjens, the vastly experienced and world renowned coach who led their male counterparts to an eighth IRB Sevens World Series crown in nine years in May.
Both sides also have plenty of players with experience of international rugby in the 15-a-side game, including Australia captain Cheryl Soon and her New Zealand counterpart Melissa Ruscoe. However the battle for qualification will still be tough.
“I think this is the first time it has been held together, Sevens of course is a great development tool and a great way to get people into rugby,” added Coalter. “I think it is going to be a very exciting opportunity for women to see that they can actually play this game as well.
“I think the Fiji women have been very strong in the past when they have been playing and they have a lot more experience at playing Sevens, rather than the New Zealand women and Australia.
“With those four teams of New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Samoa I think it is going to be a really exciting competition to get those two qualifiers out of that, and of course, Niue is in there so they are all going to have a tough weekend.”
The action gets underway at 09:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Friday with Manusina tackling New Zealand in the women’s competition. The last match on day one, involving Samoa and Papua New Guinea, kicks off at 17:20 local time (04:20 GMT Saturday).
For all the fixtures, visit www.oceaniarugby.com.
