National sevens team named

A squad of 12 women rugby players has been selected this week to represent the Cook Islands at the Oceania Women’s Championships in Fiji to be held on August 3 and 4.

The event, which is the Oceania regional qualifier for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Russia, will see nine of the top teams from the region compete in a showcase of women’s rugby in the back yard of one of the most famous rugby sevens countries in the world.

The Cook Islands national women’s team includes players from New Zealand, Australia and four home grown players who will train under former sevens representative and women’s coach Vaivase Samania.

Australia and New Zealand have automatically qualified for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 on account of their performance in 2009.

The top team from the other seven competing nations at the Oceania Sevens will qualify for the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Regional Qualifier in Pune, India in October.

The top three placed teams at this tournament will qualify directly for RWC Sevens 2013.

As well as being the regional qualifier for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013, the Oceania Women’s Sevens Championship in Fiji will also be the regional qualifier for the Asia-Pacific Women’s Sevens Championship to be held in Borneo in August – the same event the Cook Islands made history by sending their first ever national women team who returned home with the plate.

The top three teams will join defending champions Papua New Guinea in Borneo.

The national women’s squad includes – Moana Adams (NZ), Ingrid Aretupe (Aus), Marissa Iroa (CI), Amina Koiatu (Aus), Samantha Lockington (CI), Te Maari MacGregor (NZ), Denise McGrath (Aus), Margaret Nena (NZ), Apii Nicholls (NZ), Kalia Baker-Underhill (Aus), Taromi Urirau (CI), Julieanne Westrupp (CI) accompanied by coach Vaivase Samania, manager Lara Sadaraka and physio Justin Mills.

The Cook Islands women’s rugby association and players would like to thank all their supporters and the community at large for your continued support in this campaign to raise the profile of women’s rugby in the Cook Islands and across the globe.