Just three medals remain unclaimed in the Pacific Mini Games with the rugby sevens semi finals and finals to be played out today at the BCI stadium.
Sevens juggernauts Fiji rampaged through the first five rounds of games yesterday to emerge the not so surprising leader in pool A and the hot favourite for the gold medal in today’s finals.
Samoa has also risen to the top of their pool after defeating their biggest threat in pool play, Tonga 22-0.
Fiji began their sevens campaign with a massive 52-0 win over Wallis and Fortuna and continued in that fashion right throughout the day.
Next to be destroyed by Fiji was Tahiti 54-0 then the Cook Islands 31-0 and the final team to suffer at their hands was Niue 38-0.
The Cook Islands on the other hand planned to be in the top two of their pool and a convincing 40-0 win over Wallis and Fortuna got their campaign on the right track.
Their next opponent Niue was unknown to the local side but after a thorough 34-0 beating, the Cooks knew all about them.
Beating Niue was the Cook Islands’ main aim of the day knowing that Fiji was going to be the number one in their pool.
The Cooks then turned their disappointment on Tahiti, beating them 31-7, letting the visitors sneak in a try.
The Cooks final match of the day was against none other than Fiji.
And while the Cooks certainly fought hard – Fiji was just too classy winning the match 31-0.
The first day of the sevens was a day of big scores with numerous walkovers and a handful of tight battles, like the match between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands which PNG won 17-12.
Today it’s all on for the semi finals with the Cook Islands playing the first match of the day against PNG in the first plate semi finals at 12 noon.
Tahiti and Solomon Islands will meet in the second plate semi finals.
Fiji will take on Tonga in the first medal semi-finals today at 12.45pm.
The second medal semi final is between Samoa and Niue at 1.06pm.
The winners will proceed to the grand finals scheduled for 3.40pm with the closing ceremony of the Pacific Mini Games at 4.30pm.
So grab your sun block and head to the BCI stadium to watch some of the best rugby sevens the island has seen. - Cook Islands News
Last Modified on 04/10/2009 11:39