By Renate Rivers

Sevens

The men’s Sevens journey started off well yesterday with a comprehensive win of 55-0 against American Samoa at Stade Numa Daly.

Today’s matches also failed to test the boys with massive point differences against Vanuatu (52-12) and Solomon Islands (45-0).

They go in to tomorrow’s quarter finals the favorites to win gold, with a game against New Caledonia before an expected final with Fiji in the evening.

The women’s pool matches also started off well with wins against the French territories of Tahiti (27-0) and New Caledonia (14-5).

Although the girls dominated Tahiti, winning easily and comprehensively;the game against New Caledonia was a lot tougher.

“There must be more discipline,�? said Coach Stan Toomalatai, “Share the ball and check yourself for the little mistakes because every move counts – if one person is sin-binned, it affects the entire game.�?

They lost their final game of the day to Fiji 12-29.
The second day of competition yesterday produced great results (vs Cook Islands 19-7, and vs Papua New Guinea 15-2) leading up to their finals berth tomorrow against Fiji – a match that promises to showcase the best in the Women’s Sevens competition for gold.

Samoa’s first Noumea Games gold could very well be in the bag this time tomorrow.

Tennis

Finals day for tennis team events wrapped today with a bronze medal for both the men and women’s team events.

The men’s Finals competition, held at the Lhuillier Tennis Center at Ouen Toro, was set under a blistering sun and against Team Tahiti. Leon Soonalole took the first match from Patrice Cotti 7-5, 6-4 and the doubles component was also won by Samoa 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The deciding match for the bronze medal then came down to a decider between Samoa’s Juan Langton and French Polynesia’s Raiarii Yan.

Juan won the first set easily, cruising to a 6-2 lead before struggling throughout the second, eventually losing it to the Tahitian 3-6. The final set was scrappy with both players struggling after almost two hours of play. Juan took the set and match with a 6-4 win over the Raiarii, securing Samoa’s 5^th bronze medal for the New Caledonia Games.

 
Volleyball

The women’s volleyball team are yet to lose a match with pool wins over Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and with last night’s victory against Tuvalu, the girls have one final pool match against Tahiti on Saturday before the ranking games begin next week.

Set at the Vayret Sports Complex in Noumea, last night’s game was a domination of the Tuvalu team that allowed very few moments of sporting joy for anyone without a blue shirt.

The men’s team are not faring as well. They lost their first game against Tahiti on Wednesday and were last night beaten by New Caledonia 3-0 in a competition marred by interruptions from Officials and highly suspect calls from the New Caledonian second referee.

Samoa vs New Caledonia

Coach Petelo Vaifale Muliaga said that this has been a normal occurrence for the games.

“The rules state that there can only be so many referees from other countries… so the rest are from New Caledonia.

“We have had some dubious refereeing in our games and tonight has been no different.�?

The boys played well, although ultimately outshone by the powerhouse spikes and teamwork of the New Caledonians.

Boxing

A fantastic result last night for our boxing team, notably with Filimaua Hala progressing to the semi finals with a knock-out of Tahitian Pure Nena in the second round.

Five of Team Samoa’s boxers have reached the semi-finals: in the under 56kg category Mosese Pousoo will fight Andrew Opugu of PNG; in the under 64kg category Livai Hinoma will face Fiji’s Jese Ravudi; in the under 69kg category Henry Tyrell will fight against Tahiti’s Albert Temaititahio; in the under 75kg category Petelo Matagi will meet Luke Hema of New Caledonia; and finally Filimaua will face-off with Sosefo Falekaono of the Kingdom of Tonga.

As of the end of the day 1^st September, Samoa is ranked 6^th on the medal board with 10 medals – 4 silver and 6 bronze.

New Caledonia are top of the leader board with an astonishing 78 medal tally – 33 gold, 32 silver and 13 bronze.

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Renate Rivers

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