The Cook Islands men’s team made a great start to their Oceania Sevens Championship 2023 campaign in Brisbane, Australia, while the women’s team bowed out of the tournament with three consecutive losses.

The Stephen Willis-skippered side defeated Tuvalu 17-10 in their opening pool match on day one of the tournament on Thursday.

Yesterday, the national side thumped American Samoa 31-0, after leading 19-0 at the break, before going down to Solomon Islands 14-19 in a close encounter. The national side was scheduled to play Samoa last night in their final pool match.

Cook Islands Rugby Union president Simiona Teiotu, who is in Brisbane, said he was pleased with the team’s performance in the first two matches.

“The match against Solomons we just lost by a try. The referee’s decisions went against us unfortunately. Solomons had a couple of headshots against our boys which were never picked up by the ref. We also had one yellow and one red, not good,” Teiotu said.

“Overall, our boys did very well. Compliments to all our men’s team and our women’s team. Unfortunately, our women did not do well, lost all their game.”

The women’s team lost to Fiji 0-50 in the first match before going down to American Samoa 21-28 and Tonga 0-10.

The women’s team management in a Facebook post after day one matches said: “Our Vaine 7s scrummed hard but sadly didn’t snag the wins today, but we’re bursting with pride at their valiant efforts on the field, representing our beloved island nation with grit and heart. In their first match up although the Fijians came out on top with a 50-0 score, our team are still champions in our eyes!

In their second match our Vaine 7s showed true grit in a nail-biting match against American Samoa. Although the scoreboard didn’t tip in our favour with a 21-28 loss, we’re bursting with pride to see our team put up such a valiant and tenacious fight.”

Teiotu thanked the Cook Islands community in Brisbane for their support and Oceania Rugby for hosting them.

“Also, thanks to both management teams and also our medic supported by Jana Whitta.”

The 2023 Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship fixtures:

• 25 teams - 15 men’s and 10 women's teams from 14 countries in the region participating.
• Eighteen teams will be vying for Olympic qualification.
• The top-placed men’s and the top-placed women's teams in the Olympic qualification sections of the 2023 Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship will qualify to the 2024 Paris Olympics.