The Pacific nations’ top two ranked sides Fiji and Papua New Guinea have named their SP Brewery Pacific Cup squads ahead of all competing nations arriving in Port Moresby today for the start of the tournament.
Headlining a Fiji squad which performed so well at the 2008 Rugby League World Cup are Newcastle Knights flyers Wes Naiqama and Akuila Uate.
Adrian Lam’s Papua New Guinea squad – which came within a whisker of upsetting England in their similarly successful RLWC campaign – features an array of English Super League and NRL talent headlined by Gold Coast Titans rising star David Mead.
Local heroes Menzie Yere (Sheffield Eagles) and Charlie Wabo (Hunslet) have returned from England to join the squad while promising NRL Toyota Cup player Tyson Martin (North Queensland) has earned selection following a solid performance against the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII last month.
The Fiji, Tonga and Cook Islands squads arrive in Port Moresby today in preparation for the tournament, which kicks off on Saturday, with PNG already in camp.
Throughout the tournament’s two weeks all nations will be assisting the PNG Rugby League and AusAID with promoting critical HIV/AIDS related health messages while tournament staff will conduct a ‘Sports Conference’ on October 28 for the benefit of local sports administrators.
Following their upset victory over Samoa the Cook Islands will face Fiji in the first match of the tournament on Saturday, October 24 before host nation PNG take on Tonga on Sunday, October 25.
The following Saturday, October 31 will see a 3rd versus 4th playoff match before the Final is played on Sunday, November 1 to determine the inaugural SP Brewery Pacific Cup champions and the fourth nation of the 2010 Four Nations.
All matches kick off at 3pm (QLD time, 4pm NSW) at Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby. Vision for news networks is available from Globecast.
Australian fans will be able to see all matches live online thanks to Telstra BigPond – visit NRL.com for more information – and through a Nine Network telecast on November 1 and 8 at midday.
For UK fans Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3 will broadcast match highlights on October 27-28 and November 3-5 while fans throughout the Pacific will be catered for through Fiji TV and local PNG fans through host broadcaster EM TV.
Fiji Bati 2009 Pacific Cup Squad
Surname | First Name | Club |
DIVAVESI | Iowane | Lautoka Crushers |
GOCK | Donas | Cabramatta Two Blues |
HUGHES | Hamilton | Moore Park Brumbies |
KOLINIAVU | Meli | Auckland Warriors |
KOROI | Sevania | Nadera Panthers |
MACILAI | Jone | Coral Coast Cowboys |
MILLARD | Ryan | Newtown Jets |
NAIQAMA | Kevin | Newcastle Knights |
NAIQAMA | Wes | Newcastle Knights |
RALOGAIVAU | Sitiveni | Nadera Panthers |
RASAUBALE | Puna | Southern Districts Rebels |
RATU | Mike | Leeds Rhinos |
RAVUETA | Joe | Coral Coast Cowboys |
SADRAU | Osea | Police Sharks |
SARAVAKI | Asaeli | Nadera Panthers |
TANI | Alipate | Coral Coast Cowboys |
TANI | Kaliova | Coral Coast Cowboys |
UATE | Akuila | Newcastle Knights |
WAQA | Lepani | Wentworthville Magpies |
WESELE | Jone | Police Sharks |
Coach: Terry Gilogely
Papua New Guinea Kumuls 2009 Pacific Cup Squad
Surname | First Name | Club |
MEAD | David | Gold Coast Titans |
AIYE | Dion | Agmark Gurias |
KAMBO | Richard | Wentworthville |
PARKER | Jessie Joe | SBS Muruks |
PETERS | Keith | Penrith Panthers |
MAORI | Tu’u | Sydney Roosters |
PORA | Rodney | Agmark Gurias |
ASTON | Jay | Northern Pride |
NIGHTINGALE | James | Redcliffe Dolphins |
GANDE | Seigfried | Goroka Lahanis |
MONI | George | Agmark Gurias |
NAMI | Glen | Goroka Lahanis |
CHAN | Jason | Celtic Crusaders |
GRIFFIN | Rod | Northern Pride |
WABO | Charlie | Hunslet, UK |
WILSHERE | John | Salford Reds |
MARTIN | Tyson | North Queensland Cowboys |
BOND | Joe | Melbourne Storm |
KUI | Anton | SBS Muruks |
YERE | Menzie | Sheffield Eagles, UK |
Coach: Adrian Lam