The Japan XV look set to win the World Rugby Pacific Challenge 2024 title after a thrilling 45-43 win victory over the Fiji Warriors in the second round of the competition in Apia on Monday. Photo: Oceania Rugby
World Rugby Challenge title battle in Apia
The Japan XV look set to win the World Rugby Pacific Challenge 2024 title after a thrilling 45-43 win victory over the Fiji Warriors in the second round of the competition in Apia on Monday.
It was the second bonus-point win of the competition for Naoya Okubo's team who beat Manuma Samoa 48-5 in round one last week.
They top the standings with a maximum 10 points knowing that they only need to avoid defeat against Tonga A in the final round on Sunday to add to Junior Japan's triumph in 2020.
Fiji Warriors still have an outside chance of defending their title after picking up two bonus points in the defeat, as that leaves them three points adrift with a match against hosts Manuma Samoa to come.
Manuma Samoa delighted the home crowd with a 56-17 win against Tonga A in the second match.
On Saturday, it will be Senirusi Seruvakula and the Warriors who will be under the most pressure.
The Warriors have been defending champions in the past three years.
While they had defeated Tonga A in the first game this time around, they could not go past Japan, even though they fought hard in a second half comeback.
Coach Seruvakula, who missed out on the Flying Fijians coaching role given to Fijian Drua's Mick Byrne, wants a win against the host Samoa on Saturday to cap off their campaign.
"It is going to be a tough game, playing Samoa at home," he told the media this week.
"They came back strongly against Tonga on Monday and won very well. It will be an interesting clash."
The Fiji Warriors will have to start well and keep going hard throughout the game.
Manuma Samoa showed they were improving when they thumped Tonga 56-17 on Monday.
They will not want to give up their home ground easily.
Japan XV will battle off against Tonga A in the first game at Apia Park on Saturday.
New 'Ikale Tahi assistant coach Nili Latu was with the team this week, assisting in their preparation.
Solomon Islands qualify with big win
A 6-0 win against American Samoa has secured Solomon Islands a place at the OFC Under-16 Men's Championship in Tahiti in July.
OFC said Solomon Islands wasted no time getting into the lead, scoring the opener in the second minute of play when captain Kennedy Sihui fired an excellent shot into the top right corner.
The early dominance of the Solomon's was clear, as they dominated possession and looked to break through the American Samoa defence, with Steward Apaniai, Ashley Kwaimasia and Patty Kenimoi enjoying further chances at goal.
A second Solomon Islands goal arrived in the 16th minute. American Samoa gloveman Alvin Talataiga saved a Kwaimasia shot low to his left, but Junior Sese was there to stroke the ball home on the rebound.
While opportunities on goal continued to come for the Solomon's, the American Samoan side grew into the game and started to be more competitive. The isolated Samupengi Talasinga up front continued to work hard and looked most likely for them, as they launched a few promising attacks on the Solomon Islands defence.
More impressively, the Solomon Islands attack was kept at bay for most of the first half, in contrast to earlier games against Papua New Guinea and Tonga where the Solomon's reached a three-goal lead earlier.
However, deep in first half added time, the Solomon's did get their third. Sese found himself in clear space in the penalty error, and confidently finished into the bottom left corner to make the scoreline 3-0 at the break.
The second half began with renewed energy from the Solomon Islands, with Kenimoe looking particularly dangerous on the left flank. Kwaimasia went closest in its early stages, smashing a powerful shot against the crossbar.
Then in the 58th minute, Kwaimasia made no mistake and made it 4-0 to the Solomon's with a very tidy goal. After clipping the ball past Talataiga with a small but crucial touch, he then deftly directed it into the bottom right corner for his eighth of the tournament.
With the Solomon's looking confident, American Samoa retreated into their shell, unable to get any breakaways of note and often packing the penalty area with bodies to limit opposition attacks.
Kwaimasia capped off a strong performance with a fifth Solomon's goal of the day, before being substituted off for Kenton Feni. Sihiu slipped it through, and once again Kwaimasia was cool with the finish and tucked away to make it 5-0.
Substitute Allen Makana added the sixth as the match entered the last ten regulation minutes. Apaniai did the hard work with an accurate low cross, and while the ball passed Feni by, Makana was unmarked in space to provide a simple finish.
The scoreline ensures Solomon Islands finish the tournament with an outstanding record of three wins, 30 goals for and no goals against in OFC U-16 Men's Championship- qualifying.
Solomon Islands will join New Caledonia, Samoa and hosts Tahiti in Group B of the OFC U-16 Championship.
Solomon Islands: 6 (Kennedy SIHIU 2', Junior SESE 16', 45+3′, Ashley KWAIMASIA 58′, 69′, Allen MAKANA 81′) beat American Samoa: 0
Fiji, Samoa 7s in for tough matches
Fiji and Samoa are in for another tough round of matches at the Singapore Sevens next month.
Pools drawn in Singapore on Thursday have the Fiji men's team in Pool C along with Ireland, USA and Great Britain.
Samoa is in Pool B with France, South Africa and Spain.
On the women's side, Fiji is in Pool C with Australia, Great Britain and Brazil.
The pool draws for the seventh and final regular season round of HSBC SVNS 2024, to be played at Singapore National Stadium on 3-5 May, took place at the Singapore Changi Airport on Thursday.
World Rugby said men's leaders Argentina have been drawn in a tough looking Pool A together with recent Hong Kong winners New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
League title contenders Ireland are in Pool C with double Olympic champions Fiji, the USA and Great Britain.
Pool B is led by France, who have reached the podium at the last three rounds, alongside South Africa, Spain and Samoa.
The women's pool draw sees current standings leaders New Zealand in Pool A with Canada, Ireland - who won gold in Perth - and Spain. SVNS league title rivals Australia are drawn in Pool C together with Fiji, Great Britain and Brazil.
Pool B sees the USA, who were finalists last time out in Hong Kong, alongside France, Japan and South Africa.
With less than 100 days until the Olympic Games Paris 2024 gets underway, the action in Singapore will be intense from start to finish with World Rugby's revamped competition formula set to deliver fans even more excitement, jeopardy and entertainment.
Under the new HSBC SVNS 2024 model, seven regular-season events take place, resulting in regular season League Winners being crowned in Singapore before a Grand Final in Madrid which will determine the HSBC SVNS champions.
The top eight teams based on cumulative series points at the conclusion of the seventh round in Singapore will secure their place in the 'winner takes all' Grand Final in Madrid on 31 May-2 June.
In perhaps the most competitive HSBC SVNS season ever, it is all to play for at both ends of the league table as New Zealand and Australia are equal on points at the top of the women's standings, while Argentina's men hold an eight-point advantage over Ireland, with both teams looking for their first ever SVNS league winners title.
Hunters ready to spoil the party
Hunters Head Coach Paul Aiton wants to make the National Football stadium the Hunters "fortress."
The Post-Courier reported the Hunters have so far conceded three away defeats and two home game winning record.
It will be a mammoth task for Hunters on Saturday as they host a very quality second placed side in the Redcliffe Dolphins.
"We are looking forward towards a big game against the Dolphins but we are always tough to beat at home so we'd like to make this our fortress," Aiton said.
With the expected home crowd who will be at the stadium to watch the match, Hunters are expecting a good win at home without underestimating their opponent.
Coach Aiton said he knows the Dolphins will come up hard on the weekend but his boys are ready to "spoil the party."
"Definitely they (Dolphins) want to win. They will want to come and play hard and win but we might spoil the party for them I think," he said.
Since the season kicked off, Hunters have won two games hosted at home and lost two away games before heading into bye last weekend and are back for round six this weekend.
"Hunters have been working on their defence after round four and their main enemy of ill-discipline that gives away unscary penalties but the boys are improving every day.
"We can attack and we can score tries but our defence was not where we were in round one."
"We've been focusing on our defence. We've got our own tackle technique. Defence is all about our effort."
Aiton said that the mindset of the players is something they will have to work on to win away games and everyday at the training is a progress.
Vanuatu cricket seeks donations before ICC event
The women's cricket team of Vanuatu has resorted to collecting donations to participate in the International Cricket Council (ICC) event.
Vanuatu is scheduled to participate in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Global Qualifiers in Abu Dhabi but lacks funds to upgrade the team's equipment.
Vanuatu qualified for the Global Qualifiers by defeating Japan in the East Asia Pacific Qualifiers.
The current media said teams from the Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Ireland, UAE, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Scotland, USA and Uganda are participating in the global qualifiers which starts on 25 April.
The team needs six to $7000 for better equipment, but the Vanuatu Cricket Association requested funds from the public to collect the money.
The Vanuatu Cricket Association has created a fundraising link on the GoFundMe portal and so far $3000 have been collected.
Guam youth tennis players qualify for Fiji
Guam Tennis claimed three championship titles and two second-place finishes at the recent 2024 North Pacific Regional Championship in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Guam Daily Post said a total of 73 competitors from the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Nauru, Palau and Saipan competed for a chance to advance to the Pacific Oceania Juniors Championships in July in Fiji.
Having featured in the under-12, under-14 and under-16 Guam saw players qualifying for the oceania champs.
The players from Guam who qualified are Edward Calvo, Camelo Chen, Leila Mercado, Jacob Hsiao, Jeren DeVera, Faith Perera, Leah San Agustin and Daniel Aki Noble.
"We are very proud of our Guam juniors team who had excellent results in Saipan at last week's North Pacific Regional Championship," Guam National Tennis Federation President Torgun Smith said.
"Those champions who will move on to the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships will compete for recognition in the larger (Pacific/Oceania) region, which will open more opportunities for their development. Those who did not qualify had amazing learning experience to build on for future competitions.
"Our junior tennis on Guam is on a very positive path. GNTF will be going into schools to continue to build our development programmes."
With strong play from several of Guam's juniors, Mercado, who played in the U16 girls division, finished the tournament undefeated and in the process defeated Saipan's Hoo Wang 6-4, 6-0 in the championship match.
"We were both very nervous, as this (is) our last year on the junior national team," Mercado said.
"We had a tight first set, and eventually I used the momentum in my advantage to close the game. The match could've gone either way."
Mercado told the Guam Daily Post that throughout the tournament she was anxious but always focused. But after seven consecutive singles victories, Mercado bashed her butterflies.
Northern Mariannas send strong swim team
The Northern Mariannas national swim team is ready to make a splash at the Oceania Swimming Championships 2024 in Brisbane from April 21.
The Saipan Tribune reports the seven-member team is coached by Richard Sikkel and Christian Villacrusis.
Sikkel said the swimmers have been training since their return from the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara.
They are focused on making the finals.
"We are hoping to make finals in several events and possibly an age group record," Sikkel said.
"Events like this are another great learning experience for even bigger events. We saw a lot of growth in our group after the [Pacific Games] and we expect the same here."
While in Australia, he and Villacrusis will attend the World Aquatics Coaching certification.
He thanked the Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation for providing the team the opportunity to represent the NMI in Australia.
He also thanked everyone who supported the team with their fundraiser and the Pacific Islands Club Saipan and Aqua Resort Club for allowing them to practice their dives in their pool.
Saipan Times said the team is made up of seven swimmers including Taiyo Akimaru, Jinie Thompson, Savita Sikkel, Michael Miller, Nagi Tenorio, Piper Raho, and Moshe Sikkel.
The next major event for the NMI swimmers is the 2024 Micronesian Games in Majuro, Marshall Islands from 15-24 June.
Meanwhile, Tonga are sending a five member team to the Brisbane meet.
Their swimmers are Carolann Susana Faeamani, Finau Lino Ohuafi, Charissa Sofia Panuve, Alan Koti Lopeti Uhi and Jazz Teuhema.
Fiji will have 18 swimmers representing them.
The team will be under the guidance of coach, Willie Elaisa and team manager Eugene Panuve.
Palau is sending four swimmers.
Australia, with 16 swimmers and New Zealand with 10, are also competing at the event.