28 Jul 2008

Oceania region have seven teams at IRB Rugby World Cup in Dubai next year

10:34 am on 28 July 2008

The Oceania region will have seven participants at next year's IRB World Cup in Dubai for both men and women.

The Samoa men's team qualified after beating Tonga 52-nil in the final in Apia at the weekend.

Samoa along with Tonga will join defending World cup champions Fiji, with New Zealand and Australia qualifying automatically by reaching the Cup quarter finals at the 2005 tournament in Hong Kong.

The two Oceania spots for the women's draw has been won by Australia and New Zealand with Australia edging out New Zealand 22-15 in the final.

The Cook Islands and Fijian ended their campaign on a high by beating Niue 33-15 and Samoa 24-7 in the men and women's third place playoffs.

In the men's Plate final, Papua New Guinea defeated Solomon Islands 19-12, with Vanuatu finishing seventh after beating Tahiti 24-0.