The Solomon Islands Women's Rugby Sevens competition for 2011 will kick off at Panatina Oval this Thursday 6th of October starting at 4:00pm.

This was after the girls and women had completed four weeks (one day per week) of combined rugby skills and concepts learning and training sessions in which they were coached through the basic skills, playing methods and techniques of rugby in preparation for the scheduled competition.

Women's rugby was first introduced by the Solomon Islands Rugby Union Federation (SIRUF) back in 2009 where the girls played their first tackle competition and this year will be the third year that this development program has been organized.

In 2007 six teams registered and competed in that first ever rugby sevens tackle competition. They were; Henderson Hammer Heads, Royals Blues, Frigate, Tandai Stormers, Independence Valley and Airport Motel. The Royals Blues team made history that year by becoming the first ever women's rugby champion in Solomon Islands in the sevens code winning both the league and play off finals that year.

This year they are back to defend their title amidst their very competitive rival the Henderson Hammer Heads and the much improved side Tandai Stormers, who have both confirmed their participation in this year's competition.

The women's sevens competition for this year will be played in two rounds, the first will be a round robin where only the first and runners up teams will be awarded prizes at the end of the competition, followed by a play off finals round where teams will play in an elimination format to determine the overall champion of this year's competition and the teams' final placings.

For the play off rounds four major prizes will be awarded to the teams in the descending order from first to fourth which will be officially announced later in the week.

Meanwhile, teams are reminded to pay their registration fee if they have not yet done so to the SIRUF Treasurer, Mr Kwan Amatanga at Solbrew, or to Ms. Qila Tuhanuku at the RAMSI office, or to Nick Hatigeva at the SI Rugby office at Town Ground. The registration fee is $400.00 per team and registration forms can be collected from Nick at Town Ground rugby office. For enquiries and further details teams can contact either Qila on phone 7494349 or Nick on phone 7488930.


Source: Press Release, SIRUF