Papua New Guinea national rugby sevens team

The Papua New Guinea national rugby sevens team competes in the Pacific Games, Commonwealth Games, Challenger Series and the Oceania Sevens. They finished third in 2009 and fourth in 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2023 in the Oceania Sevens. They missed out on a maiden Olympic spot after being defeated by Samoa 24-0 in the 2023 Oceania 7s Olympic Playoff.[3]

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Papua New Guinea women's national rugby sevens team.

Papua New Guinea
UnionPapua New Guinea Rugby Football Union
Nickname(s)The Pukpuks[1]
Coach(es)John Larry[2]
Captain(s)Bartholomew Levi
Top scorerPaul Joseph
Team kit
Largest win
Papua New Guinea 62–0 Tahiti 7s
(National Stadium, Honiara; 23 November 2023)
Largest defeat
Papua New Guinea 0-64 England 7s
(Wellington; 3 February 2006)
World Cup Sevens
Appearances1 (First in 2018)
Medal record
Pacific Games
1999 Santa RitaTeam
2007 ApiaTeam
2011 NouméaTeam
Oceania Sevens
2009 PapeeteTournament
Oceania Sevens Challenge
2022 GattonTournament

Papua New Guinea has also played the Hong Kong Sevens World Series qualifier. In the 2015 edition, they went to the semifinals, where they lost to Russia. In 2016 they lost all matches in the group phase. In 2017 they reached the semifinals.

PNG qualified for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games.[4] Papua New Guinea made its first appearance at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018, following its fifth-place finish at the 2017 Oceania Sevens Championship.

Tournament history

World Cup Sevens
Rugby World Cup 7s
Year Round Position P W L D
1993 Did not enter
1997 Did not qualify
2001
2005
2009
2013
2018 21st playoff 21st 4 2 2 0
2022 Did not qualify
Total0 Titles1/84220

Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
Year Round Position P W L D
1998 Plate Final 10th 7 4 3 0
2002 Did not enter
2006
2010 Bowl Final 9th 6 4 2 0
2014 11th playoff 11th 5 2 3 0
2018 Group stage 9th 3 1 2 0
2022 Did not enter
Total0 Titles4/72111100

Pacific Games
Pacific Games
Year Round Position P W L D
1999 Final 5 4 1 0
2003 Plate Final 5th 5 4 1 0
2007 Bronze Final 6 4 2 0
2011 Bronze Final 6 5 1 0
2015 Bronze Final 4th 7 4 3 0
2019 Did not enter
2023 Bronze Final 4th 6 4 2 0
Total0 Titles6/73525100

Pacific Mini Games
Pacific Mini Games
Year Round Position P W L D
1997 Did not enter
2009 Bowl Final 6th 6 3 3 0
2013 Bronze Final 4th 8 3 5 0
2017 Did not enter
Total0 Titles2/414680

Oceania Sevens
Oceania 7s
Year Round Position P W L D Refs
2008 Plate final 5th 5320 [5]
2009 Third playoff 8440 [6]
2010 Third playoff 4th 6330 [7]
2011 7th playoff 7th 7331 [8]
2012 Plate Final 5th 6420 [9]
2013 Plate Final 6th 6240 [10]
2014 Plate Final 5th 6321 [11]
2015 Third playoff 4th 6330[12]
2016 Third playoff 4th 6330[13]
2017 5th playoff 5th 6420
2018 7th playoff 7th 5230
2019 5th playoff 6th 5320
2021 did not attend
2022 withdrew[14]
2023 Olympic Qualifying Final 4th 6420
Total0 Titles12/147237332

Oceania Sevens Challenge
Oceania 7s Challenge
Year Round Position P W L D
2022 Final 5 3 2 0

World Rugby Sevens

World Rugby sevens series

The Pukpuks Sevens have participated as an invited team to selected tournaments across 10 seasons on the world series circuit since the inaugural season in 1999–2000. Historically, they have participated in 18 tournaments particularly the New Zealand Sevens (2000-2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2018), Australian Sevens (2000, 2002, 2011, 2017 and 2018), Fiji Sevens (2000), Japan Sevens(2000) and the Hong Kong Sevens (2002). To date, Papua New Guinea have played a total 127 matches accumulating 237 tries and 1507 points overall. Their best all-time season finish is 12th placing from the inaugural season in 1999-2000.

World Rugby Sevens Series record
Season Rounds Position Points
1999–00 4 / 10 12th 8
2000–01 1 / 9 — 0
2001–02 3 / 11 — 0
2003–04 1 / 8 — 0
2007–08 1 / 8 — 0
2010–11 2 / 8 — 0
2011–12 1 / 9 21st 3
2014–15 1 / 9 21st 1
2016–17 2 / 10 18th 2
2017–18 2 / 10 17th 6

Player records

The following shows leading career Papua New Guinean players based on performance in the World Rugby Sevens Series.[15]

Tries scored
No. Player Tries
1 Paul Joseph 29
2 Albert Levi 12
Kevin Vitolo 12
4 Henry Liliket 9
Aiem Pilokos 9
Willie Tirang 9
Points scored
No. Player Points
1 Paul Joseph 291
2 Albert Levi 80
3 Kevin Vitolo 70
4 Henry Liliket 47
Raymond Yauieb 47
Matches played
No. Player Matches
1 Paul Joseph 33
2 Douglas Guise 29
3 Eugene Tokavai 25
4 Montgomery Diave 20
Gairo Kapana 20
Henry Liliket 20
Kevin Vitolo 20

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

Papua New Guinea have appeared in every edition of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series since the inaugural season in 2020. This was through qualification for being one of two highest ranked non-core World Rugby Sevens Series teams from the Oceania Sevens Championship.

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series record
Season Rounds Position Points
2020 2 / 2 11th 16
2022 1 / 1 11th —
2023 2 / 2 9th 9
2024 3 / 3 11th 6

Current squad

Previous squads

Squad to the 2023 Pacific Games:

Players
Derrick Voku
Emmanuel Alfred
Benjamin Boas
Benson Hayai
Benjamin Kennedy
Mhustapha Kura
Kunak Late
Kadum Mais
Richard Mautu
Shaun Ongapa
Edward Ramit
Jacky Winas

Squad to the 2023 Oceania 7s:

Players
Derrick Voku
Emmanuel Alfred
Benjamin Boas
Benson Hayai
Benjamin Kennedy
Mhustapha Kura
Kunak Late
Kadum Mais
Richard Mautu
Shaun Ongapa
Edward Ramit
Jacky Winas

Squad to the 2022 Oceania 7s:

Players
Derrick Voku
Emmanuel Alfred
Benjamin Boas
Benson Hayai
Benjamin Kennedy
Mhustapha Kura
Kunak Late
Kadum Mais
Richard Mautu
Shaun Ongapa
Edward Ramit
Jacky Winas

See also

References
  • McLaren, Bill A Visit to Hong Kong in Starmer-Smith, Nigel & Robertson, Ian (eds) The Whitbread Rugby World '90 (Lennard Books, 1989)
  1. "Sport: Late coaching change disrupts PNG sevens team". Radio New Zealand International. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  2. "11 Newcomers in". 16 May 2024.
  3. "Samoa and Fijiana 7s qualify for 2024 Olympic Games". Radio New Zealand. 13 November 2023.
  4. "Aussies to face England in sevens". Australia: ABC News. July 2010.
  5. "Oceania Sevens women's final". Oceania Rugby. 2008. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015.
  6. "New Zealand claim Oceania Women's Sevens Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
  7. "New Zealand claim Oceania Women's Sevens Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
  8. "New Zealand claim Oceania Women's Sevens Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
  9. "New Zealand claim Oceania Women's Sevens Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
  10. "Women's Sevens Statistics – Day 2" (PDF). Oceania Rugby. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2013.
  11. "Fiji and New Zealand win the Oceania Sevens". IRB. 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. "Australia and Fijiana Win Places at 2016 Olympic Games Sevens". Oceania Rugby. 2015. Archived from the original on 15 November 2015.
  13. "Australian women win Oceania rugby sevens". Special Broadcasting Service. 12 November 2016. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017.
  14. "PNG withdraws from Oceania 7s, focused on HSBC Challenge". 22 June 2022.
  15. worldrugby.org. "Stats Centre | HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  16. "11 Newcomers in". 16 May 2024.
  17. "PNG takes part in Challenger Series". 12 August 2022.
  18. "PNG takes part in Challenger Series". 12 August 2022.
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