Saturday, December 3, 2011

OCEANIA CUP RUGBY: Final Round

03.12.2011
Papua New Guinea v Niue in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)
Vanuatu v Solomon Islands in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)

Previews
Host nation PNG have dominated this tournament so far. Solomon Islands have been the dark horse to date, upsetting Niue in the first match and then pushing the hosts on day 2.

An unusual feature of these games has been the number of unconverted tries. On Day 2, only 1 of the 14 tries scored was converted.

Sadly not all of Oceania’s members fronted up to this tournament. Notable non attendees were Cook Islands, New Caledonia and Tahiti.

Excellent reviews can be found here
Day 1 http://www.oceaniarugby.com/111129_oceania_cup_png_and_solomon_islands_take_e.html/ref/267

Day 2
http://www.oceaniarugby.com/111201_oceania_cup_png_and_niue_win_round_2.html/ref/267

Onto todays games

Vanuatu v Solomon Islands in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)

Vanuata-logo-  Solomon_Islands_logo

Previous Encounters
08.12.2007 Vanuatu 18-5 in Port Vila (FORU Oceania East)
29.07.2005 Solomon Islands 20-12 in Port Vila (WCQ Oceania R1, Pool A)
16.06.2001 Solomon Islands 11-3 in Honiara (WCQ Oceania 1B)

This Tournament
Vanuatu
v Papua New Guinea L 3-78
v Niue L 13-32

Solomon Islands
v Niue W 22-19
v Papua New Guinea L 15-33

GWC Rugby Rankings
Do not apply as neither teams played a test match in 2010

IRB Ranking Points
Solomon Islands 39.06, Vanuatu 34.77

Prediction
Solomon Islands by 40 points

Papua New Guinea v Niue in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)

logo  niue_logo

Previous Encounter
22.04.2008 PNG 46-27 in Paliati (FORU Oceania Cup Final)

This Tournament
Papua New Guinea
v Vanuatu W 78-3
v Solomon Islands W 33-15

Niue
v Solomon Islands L 19-22
v Vanuatu W 32-13

GWC Rugby Rankings
Do not apply. Only PNG is ranked

IRB Ranking Points
PNG 46.19, Niue 41.14

Prediction: PNG by 38 points

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