The long awaited inaugural Dadi Toka Pepsi 9s Rugby League Cup Challenge is set for a big start with a total of 28 teams already registered for the three days of matches that will take place next week in Port Moresby city.
The Tournament Director, Mr. Vaeke Vani, said the teams come as far as Kairuku in the Kairuku Hiri District, Papa and Lealea in the Hiri west and the rest from the Motu Koita villages and some from the suburban.
“We anticipate some good quality football from the teams that will be participating. We got some teams fresh out of the Moresby South tournament, teams from Hanuabada and even some players that have played in the Digicel Cup are expected to be playing in some of the teams,” he said.
For the winning prizes, the Tournament Director said the Cup winner will walk away with K10, 000 and the runner up will go home with K4, 000.
The Plate winner will take K5, 000 while the runner up to take K2, 000 and for the Bowl, the winner will take home K2, 500 and the runner up to take K1,000.
There will be 8 pools with the pool games to be held on Thursday 20th and Friday 21st and the finals on Saturday 22nd. Unfortunately, Mr. Vani confirmed that this inaugural cup challenge will only see the men’s teams take part.
Hopefully, next year should see the women’s division be included as well. The major sponsor of the rugby 9s challenge is Pacific Industries through the Pepsi brand.
All the matches will take place at the Konedobu field adjacent to the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium.