In a very tightly contested game, indiscipline almost cost the host nation the match with four yellow cards issued within the space of the 80 minutes.
The official delegation from Papua New Guinea Government was Vice Minister for Sports, Hon Wesley Raminai and the Chairman of the Board for the National Gaming Control, Pastor Charles Lapa.
PNG Vice Minister for Sports said that he was pleased to see the games being hosted in Port Moresby.
“We are pleased to see our visitors and other countries represented in this Oceania Rugby Cup tournament” Raminai said.
“The other thing that the Government would like to come on board is with PNG qualifying for the World Rugby 7s Series,” he added.
The PNG Football stadium almost at full capacity was a sight to behold as the local crowd backed all four teams who played some of their best rugby of the tournament.
Round 3: Game One | Niue 89 - 05 Nauru
Niue Captain Luke Gibb said that over the last three rounds, Niue has performed well despite their little time of preparation together.“We went out there and did the best we could so I was happy with the way the boys performed especially against Nauru,” Gibbs said.
“We wanted to put out a performance like that as we finish the tournament so I’m happy with that,” he added.
Nauru Captain Damon Adeang said that post Oceania Rugby Cup, Nauru will be working on their team goals as the team is excited about lifting their performance to compete next year.
“The boys are psyched up again for next year and we’re looking forward to work on our team areas and make sure we are competing at a higher level,” Adeang said.
“There’s also a lot of people back at home watching on the livestream and hopefully they will be more keen in trying to make the team next year,” he added.
Round 3: Game Two | PNG 15 - 13 Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands Captain Paul Tema said he was proud of the efforts of the team for the full eighty minutes.“It means a lot to put on this jersey and I just want to thank everyone especially my team mates,” Tema said.
I think after this we will keep building up and hopefully come up harder and stronger next year,” he added.
PNG Pukpuks Captain Ahulo Ottio said that they had to dig deep as the Solomon Islands proved to be their toughest competition in the tournament.
“I think we did well in our defence connection and our line outs improved,” Ottio said.
“We still need to work on our set pieces but we did the best we could with the amount of time we had to prepare,” he said.
We only had two weeks but we got the win in the end, and I think that’s what matters,” Ottio added.
Papua New Guinea finished on the top of the table with 14 points followed by Niue with 9 points, Solomon Islands with 7 points and Nauru who were not able to register any points.
