Tonga, Fiji run riot in Oceania Trophy
FIJI and Tonga proved a class above on day one of the Oceania Rugby Junior Trophy in Suva.
Papua New Guinea were thrashed 63-0 by tournament host Fiji in the opening match of the Oceania Rugby Junior Trophy in the Fiji capital on Friday.
Tonga hammered Vanuatu 81-0 in the other match of the Under-20 competition.
The winner of the Oceania event will qualify for next year's second-tier Junior World Trophy in Zimbabwe. Tonga and Fiji finished fourth and fifth respectively at the 2015 event but only one Oceania berth remains up for grabs after Samoa was relegated from the elite Junior World Championship.
The competition resumes tomorrow with Tonga up against PNG and Fiji facing Vanuatu.
The junior Pukpuks were over-powered by their Fijian opponents, conceding 11 tries and trailed 29-0 at halftime at ANZ Stadium.
PNG’s best opportunity came in the second half when they were about to score a consolation try but poor handling let them down. Captain Bradley Kelegai said they needed to move on and concentrate on the next match against Tonga.
“We need to work as a team more,” Kelegai said.
“The team needs to work on the defence, attack and execution, which has been a problem for us.
“We reached Fiji’s tryline and should have scored but we dropped the ball.
“We played our natural game but we could not score and handling errors didn’t help.” – RNZ
Papua New Guinea were thrashed 63-0 by tournament host Fiji in the opening match of the Oceania Rugby Junior Trophy in the Fiji capital on Friday.
Tonga hammered Vanuatu 81-0 in the other match of the Under-20 competition.
The winner of the Oceania event will qualify for next year's second-tier Junior World Trophy in Zimbabwe. Tonga and Fiji finished fourth and fifth respectively at the 2015 event but only one Oceania berth remains up for grabs after Samoa was relegated from the elite Junior World Championship.
The competition resumes tomorrow with Tonga up against PNG and Fiji facing Vanuatu.
The junior Pukpuks were over-powered by their Fijian opponents, conceding 11 tries and trailed 29-0 at halftime at ANZ Stadium.
PNG’s best opportunity came in the second half when they were about to score a consolation try but poor handling let them down. Captain Bradley Kelegai said they needed to move on and concentrate on the next match against Tonga.
“We need to work as a team more,” Kelegai said.
“The team needs to work on the defence, attack and execution, which has been a problem for us.
“We reached Fiji’s tryline and should have scored but we dropped the ball.
“We played our natural game but we could not score and handling errors didn’t help.” – RNZ
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