Papua New Guinea national rugby sevens team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Papua New Guinea women's national rugby sevens team.

Papua New Guinea

Union	Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union
Nickname(s)	The Pukpuks [1]
Coach(es)	John Larry [2]
Captain(s)	Bartholomew Levi
Top scorer	Paul Joseph
Team kit
Largest win
Papua New Guinea 62–0 Tahiti 7s (National Stadium, Honiara; 23 November 2023)
Largest defeat
Papua New Guinea 0-64 England 7s (Wellington; 3 February 2006)
World Cup Sevens
Appearances	1 (First in 2018 )

Medal record
Pacific Games
	1999 Santa Rita	Team
	2007 Apia	Team
	2011 Nouméa	Team
Oceania Sevens
	2009 Papeete	Tournament
Oceania Sevens Challenge
	2022 Gatton	Tournament

Samoa playing Papua New Guinea at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

The Papua New Guinea national rugby sevens team competes in the Pacific Games, Commonwealth Games, Challenger Series and the Oceania Sevens. They finished third in 2009 and fourth in 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2023 in the Oceania Sevens. They missed out on a maiden Olympic spot after being defeated by Samoa 24-0 in the 2023 Oceania 7s Olympic Playoff. ^[3]

Papua New Guinea has also played the Hong Kong Sevens World Series qualifier. In the 2015 edition, they went to the semifinals, where they lost to Russia. In 2016 they lost all matches in the group phase. In 2017 they reached the semifinals.

PNG qualified for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games. ^[4] Papua New Guinea made its first appearance at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018, following its fifth-place finish at the 2017 Oceania Sevens Championship.

Tournament history

World Cup Sevens

Rugby World Cup 7s
Year	Round	Position	P	W	L	D
1993	Did not enter
1997	Did not qualify
2001
2005
2009
2013
2018	21st playoff	21st	4	2	2	0
2022	Did not qualify
Total	0 Titles	1/8	4	2	2	0

Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games
Year	Round	Position	P	W	L	D
1998	Plate Final	10th	7	4	3	0
2002	Did not enter
2006
2010	Bowl Final	9th	6	4	2	0
2014	11th playoff	11th	5	2	3	0
2018	Group stage	9th	3	1	2	0
2022	Did not enter
Total	0 Titles	4/7	21	11	10	0

Pacific Games

Pacific Games
Year	Round	Position	P	W	L	D
1999	Final		5	4	1	0
2003	Plate Final	5th	5	4	1	0
2007	Bronze Final		6	4	2	0
2011	Bronze Final		6	5	1	0
2015	Bronze Final	4th	7	4	3	0
2019	Did not enter
2023	Bronze Final	4th	6	4	2	0
Total	0 Titles	6/7	35	25	10	0

Pacific Mini Games

Pacific Mini Games
Year	Round	Position	P	W	L	D
1997	Did not enter
2009	Bowl Final	6th	6	3	3	0
2013	Bronze Final	4th	8	3	5	0
2017	Did not enter
Total	0 Titles	2/4	14	6	8	0

Oceania Sevens

Oceania 7s
Year	Round	Position	P	W	L	D	Refs
2008	Plate final	5th	5	3	2	0	[5]
2009	Third playoff		8	4	4	0	[6]
2010	Third playoff	4th	6	3	3	0	[7]
2011	7th playoff	7th	7	3	3	1	[8]
2012	Plate Final	5th	6	4	2	0	[9]
2013	Plate Final	6th	6	2	4	0	[10]
2014	Plate Final	5th	6	3	2	1	[11]
2015	Third playoff	4th	6	3	3	0	[12]
2016	Third playoff	4th	6	3	3	0	[13]
2017	5th playoff	5th	6	4	2	0
2018	7th playoff	7th	5	2	3	0
2019	5th playoff	6th	5	3	2	0
2021	did not attend
2022	withdrew						[14]
2023	Olympic Qualifying Final	4th	6	4	2	0
Total	0 Titles	12/14	72	37	33	2

Oceania Sevens Challenge

Oceania 7s Challenge
Year	Round	Position	P	W	L	D
2022	Final		5	3	2	0

World Rugby Sevens

World Rugby sevens series

The Pukpuks Sevens have participated as an invited team to selected tournaments across 10 seasons on the world series circuit since the inaugural season in 1999–2000. Historically, they have participated in 18 tournaments particularly the New Zealand Sevens (2000-2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2018), Australian Sevens (2000, 2002, 2011, 2017 and 2018), Fiji Sevens (2000), Japan Sevens(2000) and the Hong Kong Sevens (2002). To date, Papua New Guinea have played a total 127 matches accumulating 237 tries and 1507 points overall. Their best all-time season finish is 12th placing from the inaugural season in 1999-2000.

World Rugby Sevens Series record
Season	Rounds	Position	Points
1999–00	4 / 10	12th	8
2000–01	1 / 9	—	0
2001–02	3 / 11	—	0
2003–04	1 / 8	—	0
2007–08	1 / 8	—	0
2010–11	2 / 8	—	0
2011–12	1 / 9	21st	3
2014–15	1 / 9	21st	1
2016–17	2 / 10	18th	2
2017–18	2 / 10	17th	6

Player records

The following shows leading career Papua New Guinean players based on performance in the World Rugby Sevens Series. ^[15]

Tries scored

No.	Player	Tries
1	Paul Joseph	29
2	Albert Levi	12
	Kevin Vitolo	12
4	Henry Liliket	9
	Aiem Pilokos	9
	Willie Tirang	9

Points scored

No.	Player	Points
1	Paul Joseph	291
2	Albert Levi	80
3	Kevin Vitolo	70
4	Henry Liliket	47
	Raymond Yauieb	47

Matches played

No.	Player	Matches
1	Paul Joseph	33
2	Douglas Guise	29
3	Eugene Tokavai	25
4	Montgomery Diave	20
	Gairo Kapana	20
	Henry Liliket	20
	Kevin Vitolo	20

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

Papua New Guinea have appeared in every edition of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series since the inaugural season in 2020. This was through qualification for being one of two highest ranked non-core World Rugby Sevens Series teams from the Oceania Sevens Championship.

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series record
Season	Rounds	Position	Points
2020	2 / 2	11th	16
2022	1 / 1	11th	—
2023	2 / 2	9th	9
2024	3 / 3	11th	6

Current squad

Squad to 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series - Men's tour [16]
Lawrence LAMOND (Debut- Germany 7s) Jaybes PANGAS (Debut- Germany 7s) Bernard TOALBERT (Debut- Germany 7s) Bartholomew LEVI (c) (Debut- Germany 7s) Nason BENJAMIN (Debut- Germany 7s) Paul Peter TONO Emmanuel ZORIRY (Debut- Germany 7s) Rex PEREGUA (Debut- Germany 7s) Ben LASIEL (Debut- Germany 7s) Elipas TATAENG (Debut- Germany 7s) Himson TUKAR (Debut- Germany 7s) Kolin TOKAU (Debut- Germany 7s)

Previous squads

Squad to the 2023 Pacific Games :

Players
Derrick Voku
Emmanuel Alfred
Benjamin Boas
Benson Hayai
Benjamin Kennedy
Mhustapha Kura
Kunak Late
Kadum Mais
Richard Mautu
Shaun Ongapa
Edward Ramit
Jacky Winas

Squad to the 2023 Oceania 7s :

Players
Derrick Voku
Emmanuel Alfred
Benjamin Boas
Benson Hayai
Benjamin Kennedy
Mhustapha Kura
Kunak Late
Kadum Mais
Richard Mautu
Shaun Ongapa
Edward Ramit
Jacky Winas

Squad to 2023 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series - Men's tour [17]
Maluai PATALA Dickson Morrison Shaun ONGAPA Benjamin BOAS Paul Peter TONO Eliud HOSEA (c) Derrick VOKU Mustapha KURA Goena Kunak LATE Kadum MAIS Kennedy BENJAMIN Benjamin WAHUNE

Squad to the 2022 Oceania 7s :

Players
Derrick Voku
Emmanuel Alfred
Benjamin Boas
Benson Hayai
Benjamin Kennedy
Mhustapha Kura
Kunak Late
Kadum Mais
Richard Mautu
Shaun Ongapa
Edward Ramit
Jacky Winas

Squad to 2022 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series - Men's tour [18]
Maluai PATALA Dickson Morrison Shaun ONGAPA Benjamin BOAS Paul Peter TONO Eliud HOSEA (c) Derrick VOKU Mustapha KURA Goena Kunak LATE Kadum MAIS Kennedy BENJAMIN Benjamin WAHUNE

See also

• Rugby union in Papua New Guinea
• Papua New Guinea women's national rugby sevens team
• Papua New Guinea national rugby union team
• Papua New Guinea women's national rugby union team

References

• McLaren, Bill A Visit to Hong Kong in Starmer-Smith, Nigel & Robertson, Ian (eds) The Whitbread Rugby World '90 (Lennard Books, 1989)

1. "Sport: Late coaching change disrupts PNG sevens team". Radio New Zealand International. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
2. "11 Newcomers in". 16 May 2024.
3. "Samoa and Fijiana 7s qualify for 2024 Olympic Games". Radio New Zealand . 13 November 2023.
4. "Aussies to face England in sevens". Australia: ABC News. July 2010. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012.
5. "Oceania Sevens women's final". Oceania Rugby. 2008. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015.
6. "New Zealand claim Oceania Women's Sevens Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
7. "New Zealand claim Oceania Women's Sevens Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
8. "New Zealand claim Oceania Women's Sevens Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
9. "New Zealand claim Oceania Women's Sevens Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
10. "Women's Sevens Statistics – Day 2" (PDF). Oceania Rugby. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2013.
11. "Fiji and New Zealand win the Oceania Sevens". IRB. 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
12. "Australia and Fijiana Win Places at 2016 Olympic Games Sevens". Oceania Rugby. 2015. Archived from the original on 15 November 2015.
13. "Australian women win Oceania rugby sevens". Special Broadcasting Service. 12 November 2016. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017.
14. "PNG withdraws from Oceania 7s, focused on HSBC Challenge". 22 June 2022.
15. worldrugby.org. "Stats Centre | HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
16. "11 Newcomers in". 16 May 2024.
17. "PNG takes part in Challenger Series". 12 August 2022.
18. "PNG takes part in Challenger Series". 12 August 2022.