Photo: Fijis Jone Yacadrau cuts his way through the Tonga defence. 09092841
The Cook Islands league sevens team could still win the gold medal despite losing two of their three games and drawing with Samoa 16-all in yesterday’s round robin competition.
After a day of hard and fast league action yesterday, Samoa emerged at the top of the four team competition with Tonga in second, the Flying Fijians in third and the Cook Islands in fourth.
Samoa got their league campaign off to a great start with an 18-12 win first up against Tonga.
The sleek Fijian side met the Cook Islands in the second match of the day with their speed taking them to a 24-18 win over the hosts.
But after a rest, Fiji lost a little bit of their momentum when they faced the Tongan side – possibly the most physical of the four sides in the competition.
Tonga out muscled Fiji with a final desperate try securing their win over Fiji 24-20.
A confident Samoan side then took to the field to face the host nation Cook Islands.
The local boys were the first to dot down but straight after the missed conversion, Samoa evened out the scores with a try of their own.
In fact, the try was probably the quickest of the day as the local supporters were still celebrating the Cooks’ first try when Samoa crossed the line.
Bobby Hansen and Mathew Pierre, the slightest built players in the team, were everywhere looking for work and creating try scoring opportunities for the team.
It was tit for tat with every Cook Islands movement replicated by Samoa for an eventual 16-all score line.
The Cook Islands then faced the mighty Tongans in what was a very physical battle.
The local boys led by Turori Matutu and Sema Mataora dug deep to keep the big Tongans at bay but with a little bit more muscle power the Tongans shoved their way to a 28-22 win over the Cooks.
The final match of the day was a Fiji versus Samoa showdown with neither team getting the edge over the other for a 20-all final result.
The semi finals and medal finals of the league sevens competition will be held today at the BCI stadium.
Top ranked Samoa will play fourth ranked Cook Islands in today’s first semi finals match at 1.30pm.
The second semi final match will start at 1.55pm between Tonga and Fiji.
The loser of the two semi finals will meet at 2.55pm for the bronze medal match while the two winners will face off at 3.30pm for the gold medal.
So come on league supporters – let’s see you all at the BCI stadium to cheer our boys to the gold medal match and then to the podium. - Matariki Wilson: Cook Islands News
Last Modified on 30/09/2009 16:56