Tonga for 2016 Oceania Sevens Championship [1]
Friday, October 14, 2016 - 20:50
Tonga will be competing in this year’s exciting Oceania Sevens Championship in Fiji from November 11-12, which will include both the Olympic Gold Medal winners in the Men’s and Women’s Sevens, namely Fiji and Australia.
This tournament is significant because it will be the first time combining the men’s and women’s Sevens Championship. It will also bring together the recently crowned Men’s Olympic Gold medalists and current World Rugby HSBC Sevens Champion Fiji participate for the first time since Rio de Janeiro.
Similarly for the Women’s Sevens Olympic Champions and current HSBC Sevens Champions, Australia will also compete in the women’s championship.
The men’s championship will have 10 teams playing two round robin pools with finalists determining the pool play results. The women’s will consist of seven teams
Men’s Sevens teams for this tournament are Fiji, Australia, Samoa, Tonga, PNG, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, American Samoa, Nauru and New Caledonia.
Women’s teams are Australia, Fiji, Samoa, PNG, Cook Islands, Tonga and Solomon Islands.
Oceania Rugby General-Manager Cheryl McCormack said this tournament is key to ongoing development of Sevens Rugby within the region.
“The continued outstanding performances of our teams from the region in international evens reflect the quality and strength of Oceania Rugby competitions such as these Championships."
The Oceania Championship also serves as a qualifier for none core HSBC Sevens men’s teams into the Wellington, Sydney and Hong Kong legs of the 2017 Sevens Series.