Day two win against PNG

The Cook Islands rugby sevens squad made up for their disappointing performance on day one of the Wellington Sevens tournament on Thursday with a first up 22-10 win against Papua New Guinea in their bowl quarter final match up.

The Cooks lost all three of their games on day one which relegated them to the bottom of their points table.

PNG looked more determined at the start of the game with try scoring machine Henry Liliket socring for PNG to give the team an early 7-0 lead over the Cooks.

But the try only served to kick the Cooks into action as local based player Duane Gukisuva showed his speed to dot down for the Cooks first try.

Nathan Robinson converted the try to even up the scores before Gukisuva again crossed the line for his second try which gave the the Cooks a 14-7 lead at the half time break.

The start of the second spell mirrored the first half with PNG’s Henry Liliket dotting down for PNG before the Cooks came back to assert their dominance.

After Neslon Daplin of PNG was sin binned, Cook Islands veteran Ashley Drake proved he still had the legs for sevens scoring two tries in the late stage of the game to give the Cook Islands their first win at the Wellington tournament.

The Cook Islands win against PNG put them in the shield semi finals against Tonga and a win against Tonga would then see the Cooks play in the bowl final.

- Matariki Wilson