15 Aug 2011

Sport: Nauru make strong start in AFL Cup

10:42 am on 15 August 2011

Nauru is looking to build on a strong start to the AFL International Cup when the face Pacific rivals Tonga on Monday afternppn.

The Chiefs beat Fiji and Japan on Saturday in their opening round to make a perfect start.

Today the take on Tonga who were thrashed by Papua New Guinea but comfortably accounted for France.

Assistant Coach Wes Illig says they need to win all their games to qualify for the top four semis so, ahead of a probable group showdown with PNG, they need to keep improving.

"We did some thing very well but there's always improvement and as a coach you're always looking for ways to improve so we went through a few things just within some of our structures that we thought we could have improved and the boys took that on really well and we'll try and implement that as best as we can."

2008 finalists New Zealand and PNG also made a perfect start with two opening day wins.

Fiji are yet to win but play the Peace Team, which features players from both Israel and Palestine, on Monday afternoon.