10 Sep 2013

Sport: Rugby sevens to kick off at Mini Games

9:49 am on 10 September 2013

There's plenty of intrigue surrounding the start of the rugby sevens competition at the Pacific Mini Games in Wallis and Futuna on Tuesday.

Regional heavyweights Samoa and Fiji have sent development sides ahead of the start of the new IRB World Series next month.

"It will be the first chance for new Samoa coach, Viliamu Punivalu, to see his squad in action, while Fiji's, Alivereti Dere, has just nine players to choose from after four were dropped from the original squad for playing for the provinces without permission before the team left."

Tonga and Papua New Guinea are the other team's expected to contend for medals at the Kafika Stadium with Team PNG's Chef de Mission, Richard Kassman, bullish about their chances.

We're the dark horse for the top one and two spots. Certainly we'll be there fighting for a bronze medal but we've got our sights set a little bit higher.

Richard Kassman.

The first match is scheduled for nine o'clock on Tuesday with the medals to be decided on Wednesday.