24 Feb 2016

Sport: Cook Islands appoint new sevens coach

12:21 pm on 24 February 2016

The Cook Islands Rugby Union has appointed Vase Samania as the new national sevens coach for the next two years.

He replaces Chris Roden, who guided the team at the Oceania Championship in Auckland in November.

The Takuvaine Reds mentor, who represented the Cook Islands team for almost 15 years as a player, will be assisted by Nathan Robinson and Simon Iopu, who will be looking after the players based in New Zealand and Australia, respectively.

The national side has slipped to fifth spot in the Pacific behind Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.

Cook Islands Rugby chief executive Ben Koteka said Samania presented a comprehensive plan in his application to take Cook Islands sevens side back to the top tier.

Samania said the plan is to get back on the World Rugby Sevens circuit and qualify for tournaments such as Hong Kong, Wellington and Sydney like they used to do in the past.

The Cook Islands Sevens team during the 'Sevens in Heaven' competition.

The Cook Islands Sevens team during the 'Sevens in Heaven' competition. Photo: Facebook / Cook Islands International 7s