Papua New Guinea is keen to make full use of a rare appearance on the Sevens World Series.
The Pukpuks qualified for the Wellington and Sydney tournaments after finishing fouth at the Oceania Championship in November.
PNG failed to register a win on their last appearance in Wellington two years ago and only three of their players - Wesley Vali, Max Vali and Arthut Clement - have previous experience competing on the World Series.
Wesley Vali is one of three PNG players with previous World Sevens Series experience. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Head coach Dougie Guise said the next two weeks are a big opportunity for the team.
"Yes it was a great achievement for the team and for rugby in PNG to qualify for back to back tournaments in the World Series circuit," he said.
"And now we're also included, qualified for Hong Kong - the World Series qualifier (in April) - so to have three legs or three tournaments in one calendar year is a bit of an achievement."
The PNG team have not competed since the Oceania tournament and Dougie Guise said it will be tough going up against England, Kenya and Argentina in pool play.
"To get a win would be a great achievement for us but...we're under no qualms - we're really using this as a yardstick for our preparations for Hong Kong but we've prepared and we've done our bit of homework on the teams and we really want to be competitive at this tournament."
Papua New Guinea sevens coach Dougie Guise. Photo: RNZI
