The Papua New Guinea national rugby sevens team competes in the Pacific Games, Commonwealth Games, Challenger Series and the Oceania Sevens. They finished third in 2009 and fourth in 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2023 in the Oceania Sevens. They missed out on a maiden Olympic spot after being defeated by Samoa 24–0 in the 2023 Oceania 7s Olympic Playoff.
Papua New Guinea has also played the Hong Kong Sevens World Series qualifier. In the 2015 edition, they went to the semifinals, where they lost to Russia. In 2016 they lost all matches in the group phase. In 2017 they reached the semifinals.
PNG qualified for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games. Papua New Guinea made its first appearance at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018, following its fifth-place finish at the 2017 Oceania Sevens Championship.
Tournament history
World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup 7sYearRoundPosition 1993Did not enter 1997Did not qualify 2001 2005 2009 2013 201821st playoff21st4220 2022Did not qualifyTotal0 Titles1/84220
Commonwealth Games Commonwealth GamesYearRoundPosition 1998Plate Final10th7430 2002Did not enter 2006 2010Bowl Final9th6420 201411th playoff11th5230 2018Group stage9th3120 2022Did not enterTotal0 Titles4/72111100
Pacific Games Pacific GamesYearRoundPosition 1999Final5410 2003Plate Final5th5410 2007Bronze Final6420 2011Bronze Final6510 2015Bronze Final4th7430 2019Did not enter 2023Bronze Final4th6420Total0 Titles6/73525100
Pacific Mini Games Pacific Mini GamesYearRoundPosition 1997Did not enter 2009Bowl Final6th6330 2013Bronze Final4th8350 2017Did not enterTotal0 Titles2/414680
Oceania Sevens Oceania 7sYearRoundPosition Refs 2008Plate final5th 5 3 2 0 2009 Third playoff 8 4 4 0 2010 Third playoff 4th 6 3 3 0 2011 7th playoff 7th 7 3 3 1 2012 Plate Final 5th 6 4 2 0 2013 Plate Final 6th 6 2 4 0 2014 Plate Final 5th 6 3 2 1 2015 Third playoff 4th 6 3 3 0 2016 Third playoff 4th 6 3 3 0 2017 5th playoff 5th 6 4 2 0 2018 7th playoff 7th 5 2 3 0 2019 5th playoff 6th 5 3 2 0 2021 did not attend 2022 withdrew 2023 Olympic Qualifying Final 4th6 4 2 0 Total0 Titles12/147237332
Oceania Sevens Challenge Oceania 7s ChallengeYearRoundPosition 2022Final5320
World Rugby Sevens World Rugby sevens series The Pukpuks Sevens have participated as an invited team to selected tournaments across 10 seasons on the world series circuit since the inaugural season in 1999–2000. Historically, they have participated in 18 tournaments particularly the New Zealand Sevens (2000–2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2018), Australian Sevens (2000, 2002, 2011, 2017 and 2018), Fiji Sevens (2000), Japan Sevens(2000) and the Hong Kong Sevens (2002). To date, Papua New Guinea have played a total 127 matches accumulating 237 tries and 1507 points overall. Their best all-time season finish is 12th placing from the inaugural season in 1999–2000.
World Rugby Sevens Series recordSeasonRoundsPositionPoints1999–004 / 1012th82000–011 / 902001–023 / 1102003–041 / 802007–081 / 802010–112 / 802011–121 / 921st32014–151 / 921st12016–172 / 1018th22017–182 / 1017th6
Player records The following shows leading career Papua New Guinean players based on performance in the World Rugby Sevens Series. +Tries scored No. Player Tries 1 292 12 124 9 9 9 +Points scored No. Player Points 1 291 2 80 3 704 47 47 +Matches played No. Player Matches 1 33 2 29 3 254 20 20 20 20
World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series Papua New Guinea have appeared in every edition of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series since the inaugural season in 2020. This was through qualification for being one of two highest ranked non-core World Rugby Sevens Series teams from the Oceania Sevens Championship.
World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series recordSeasonRoundsPositionPoints20202 / 211th1620221 / 111th20232 / 29th920243 / 311th6
Current squad
Squad to 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series - Men's tourLawrence LAMOND (Debut- Germany 7s) Jaybes PANGAS (Debut- Germany 7s) Bernard TOALBERT (Debut- Germany 7s) Bartholomew LEVI (c) (Debut- Germany 7s) Nason BENJAMIN (Debut- Germany 7s) Paul Peter TONO Emmanuel ZORIRY (Debut- Germany 7s) Rex PEREGUA (Debut- Germany 7s) Ben LASIEL (Debut- Germany 7s) Elipas TATAENG (Debut- Germany 7s) Himson TUKAR (Debut- Germany 7s) Kolin TOKAU (Debut- Germany 7s)
Previous squads
Squad to the 2023 Pacific Games: PlayersDerrick VokuEmmanuel AlfredBenjamin BoasBenson HayaiBenjamin KennedyMhustapha KuraKunak LateKadum MaisRichard MautuShaun OngapaEdward RamitJacky Winas
Squad to the 2023 Oceania 7s: PlayersDerrick VokuEmmanuel AlfredBenjamin BoasBenson HayaiBenjamin KennedyMhustapha KuraKunak LateKadum MaisRichard MautuShaun OngapaEdward RamitJacky Winas
Squad to 2023 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series - Men's tourMaluai PATALA Dickson Morrison Shaun ONGAPA Benjamin BOAS Paul Peter TONO Eliud HOSEA (c) Derrick VOKU Mustapha KURA Goena Kunak LATE Kadum MAIS Kennedy BENJAMIN Benjamin WAHUNE
Squad to the 2022 Oceania 7s: PlayersDerrick VokuEmmanuel AlfredBenjamin BoasBenson HayaiBenjamin KennedyMhustapha KuraKunak LateKadum MaisRichard MautuShaun OngapaEdward RamitJacky Winas
Squad to 2022 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series - Men's tourMaluai PATALA Dickson Morrison Shaun ONGAPA Benjamin BOAS Paul Peter TONO Eliud HOSEA (c) Derrick VOKU Mustapha KURA Goena Kunak LATE Kadum MAIS Kennedy BENJAMIN Benjamin WAHUNE
See also Rugby union in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea women's national rugby sevens team Papua New Guinea national rugby union team Papua New Guinea women's national rugby union team
References McLaren, Bill A Visit to Hong Kong in Starmer-Smith, Nigel & Robertson, Ian (eds) The Whitbread Rugby World '90 (Lennard Books, 1989)