Kia Orana and welcome to all our teams participating in the 34th Raro Rugby 7s International Tournament 2023 to be held at the Tereora National Stadium.

A big welcome to Te Tai Tokerau Natives from Northland New Zealand, and its large travelling contingent of supporters here on a sports and cultural exchange, meitaki maata for making the effort to travel to Rarotonga this year.

And from Sydney, Australia the Burra Rays women’s 7s, welcome and meitaki maata for being here to celebrate the 34^th year of its existence.

Enjoy the beauty of our island and the magic of our people. We look forward to seeing some great 7s played and we look forward to forging solid relationships into the future.

To all our local teams, play hard and learn as much as you can from others, thank you for putting teams together for this tournament.

It has been a challenging year all around with commitments to other events happening later in the year but thank you again for keeping the spirit high and in celebrating the 34^th birthday of this great tournament.

Meitaki maata and Kia manuia.

Simiona Teiotu

President

Cook Islands Rugbu Union