26 Jan 2017

Sport: Strong Pacific flavour to Cabramatta rugby league 9s

1:59 pm on 26 January 2017

The Pacific Islands have contributed to a strong international line-up attending the Cabramatta Nines rugby league tournament in Sydney this weekend.

The West Papua Warriors are back after making their debut last year while Australian-based teams representing the Fiji, Samoa and Cook Island communities are among the 27 confirmed entries.

The West Papua Warriors team.

The West Papua Warriors team. Photo: Facebook / West Papua Warriors

American Samoa are absent this year, while Niue have entered just one team, but Fairfield Lototaha will be flying the flag for Tonga.

The Football Manager for the Cabramatta Rugby League Club, Bob Erskine, said the number of teams competing has remained steady for the past few years but international teams now make up the bulk of those taking part.

"The international teams have really taken hold of the concept of the nines. You can see from the entries they far outweigh the (seven) Australian teams and we look forward to seeing them all here on Saturday."

Bob Erskine said there will be teams representing most parts of the globe, including Poland, Malta, Ireland, the Philippines, Hungary and composite teams representing North America, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Mediterranean Middle East.