RUGBY HOPE CARRIERS : Team managers Mr. Hesed Ieremia and Ms. Fetuao Tamala, for the men and women’s national rugby 7s sides, taking the quest by Samoa to qualify in the South Africa tournament leg for the International tournament circuits.
By Staff Writer
The long, hard climb, to be back again in the exclusive circle of the big boys in the international 7s rugby, starts this weekend for Samoa.
The immediate goal starts in Cape Town, South Africa where the first in a series of qualifying tournaments kick off on March 1-2 and March 7-8.
The national side flys out this coming weekend to take part and hopefully end up in the top 8 teams to keep their qualifying chances alive.
There are actually two back to back tournaments all teams are required to play in South Africa to win a place in order to move on.
Poland is up next for the teams to again do battle to qualify to continue their international 7’s rugby circuit quest to be included in the competition.
This time Samoa will need to be in the top 4 teams when the dust of competition settled in the Krakow rugby 7s in Poland in April 11-12.
The top 4 teams will fly out to the US for the final qualifying round in Los Angeles , May 3 -4.
Four of the bottom 4 teams from the previous qualifying rounds will chance their luck with qualifiers from Poland in the 8-team tournament.
Samoa will have to be among the last 4 left standing to return to rejoin rugby 7s big boys and be spared the hard climb back to top ranking.
“We have a good team with a strong chance of making the top 8 teams in South Africa,” team manager Mr. Hesed Ieremia told Newsline Samoa Online.
The women’s rugby 7s team is taking on the same challenges as the men.
Both teams are making their way to South Africa to also try and qualify for the international rugby 7s circuit in both the men and women circuits.
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