Tonga is targeting a top four finish at this weekend's Sevens Challenger Series finale in Uruguay to keep alive their hopes of securing a full-time berth on the Men's World Series.
The kingdom finished fifth in last weekend's opening round in Chile to put them in a strong position to advance to the final World Series Qualifier later this year.
Tonga finished fifth in the opening World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series event in Viña del Mar, Chile. Photo: World Rugby
Head coach Tevita Tu'ifua was happy with the overall performance of his players but says they still plenty of room for improvement in Montevideo.
"First and foremost is our clarity on the rules of the game and some technicality stuff on the contact area, where we have been punished by the referees and yellow carded in our discipline, so that's the top in the list," he said. "From there we are focusing on our individual roles, our core roles on every play that we plan to execute it."
The top eight ranked core teams after the two legs in Chile and Uruguay will compete for a permament place on the 2021 World Series.
Another quarter final appearance should be enough for Tonga to advance to the final qualifier but Tevita Tu'ifua is setting his sights higher.
"To get to the semi final on the next (stage) anything can happen from there on. By the feel of the team's - all other opposition teams in the week that we had - there's only a couple that really really stood out from the rest, but they're all quality teams and I think going into this tournament we are aiming for the best that we can do...that's our focus now to go game by game to be able to achieve that," said Tu'ifua.
"On pool stages it's the most important for us to make sure that we are aiming for the win as well as keeping the points difference as well. At the end of the day it will all count down to that as well."
Tonga are targeting a top four finish in Montevideo. Photo: World Rugby
The kingdom face Portugal in the opening match of the tournament on Saturday. Tonga prevailed 26-12 in the same fixture last weekend but Portugal Tevita Tu'ifua isn't taking anything for granted.
"I don't feel that we have securely won that game by executing our plan. However, we did take the result but the room for improvement is huge for us and, in saying that, Portugal is our first game and we play in the first game of the tournament on day one so that's huge for us," he said.
Tonga will also face Colombia and Chile in Pool D, with the final game a chance to avenge their quarter final defeat in in Viña del Mar last week.
The Tongan sevens team following a scrimmage against Jamaica in Montevideo. Photo: Supplied
Meanwhile Papua New Guinea will be looking to build on their eighth place finish from last weekend.
The Pukpuks were beaten by eventual champions Germany in the Cup quarter finals and fell to Zimbabwe in the fifth place semi-finals.
PNG face a tricky start in Pool A against host nation Uruguay before facing Mexico and another showdown against the in-form Germans.