Pasifika Youth Rugby Cup 2023 stars and standouts, best photos, day 1, 2 results

There were 1000 plus players, non-stop action, big scorelines, thrillers and plenty of fantastic performances at the Pasifika Youth Rugby Cup. Latest stars, standouts, results, great photos.

There were massive hits, special skills, blowouts, thrillers, head-turning tries, great kicking and plenty of entertaining rugby on show at the Pasifika Youth Rugby Cup in Sydney on the weekend.

More than 1000 players turned out to play from Friday night and across Saturday with the final day of action on Sunday.

“It’s massive. It’s going off,’’ said Sydney Juniors Rugby boss Ben Gregory of the event now in its second year.

“There’s got to be 4000 people here today.’’

Even the wet conditions couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the teenage players and their fans and supporters who turned up at Whalan Reserve to watch the action.

We take a look at some of the stars, scorers and standouts and key results across the different age groups in our wraps below.

Competition at the Pasifika Cup Youth Rugby event. Pictures: Warren Gannon.

PASIFIKA CUP UNDER 14 BOYS TOURNAMENT

#The Barbarians recorded a great win in their first match with their 19–7 victory over the Koori side. The barbarians shared the scoring around with Tadhg Carpenter, Khaled Elmasri and William Gleeson all scoring tries while Kade McKay converted, his own try.

#Tonga had a big scoreline at the end of their 19-0 battle with Samoa White.

They also shared the scoring around with Ephrium Tone, Ziyon Lepolo and Douglas Fa’aoso going over for tries.

#Maori beat Fiji 12-5 with Jayden-Reign Keepa a star with two tries.

There was plenty of passion on show. Picture: Warren Gannon.

#Samoa Blue beat the Cook Islands 10–0 with Steven Leuela Tamaseu and Jharall Sione both scoring tries.

#The Cook Islands beat Fiji 5–0 in a later encounter while Samoa White beat the Koori team 10–7.

#Tonga recorded a big win over the Barbarians with their 19–7 victory.Kingston Finau, Noah Vaotangi and Robert Elama were scorers.

Another emphatic win was by Tonga who downed the Koori side 29-0 with Kaiasi Talakai scoring two tries. Samoa Blue beat the Maori side 24-5 with Emanuel Higgins scoring a try and two conversions.

Plenty of smiles all around at the event.

PASIFIKA CUP UNDER 14 GIRLS TOURNAMENT

#In the under 14 girls competition on Saturday morning Samoa White beat Fiji 25-17 with Praise Bainivalu scoring two tries for Fiji.

#The Cook Islands beat Samoa Blue 39-10 with Larissa Daniels-Maifea, Tarnaya Smith and Dakota Mariri all scoring twice in their first match of the tournament.

#The Maori side beat the Koori team 22-0 with tries from Poppy Fleet, Ellshah Paki and a pair from Talia Berryman.

#The Barbarians beat Tonga 24-20 in a great battle with scorers including Skye Melrose, Georgia Wansey and Izzie Milos.

#Samoa White scored their second victory with a 12–0 defeat of Tonga. Sophie Apulu and Milan Cahill scored tries

#Samoa Blue then bounce back from their first defeat with a 17-15 victory over their Koori rivals.

The event was a mixed one for youngsters from the under 14s to the under 18s.

PASIFIKA CUP UNDER 15 BOYS TOURNAMENT

#In some of the first matches of the event in the under 15s, the Barbarians defeated Fiji 19–0, Samoa beat the Cook Islands 32–0 and Tonga pipped the Harlequins 10–7 on Friday night.

#On Saturday Tonga defeated the Koori side 7–0, the Cook Islands beat the Barbarians 19–10, the Samoans took down the Fijians 12–7 and the Maori boys beat the Harlequins 27–0.

#Samoa then beat the Barbarians 15-0, Fiji beat the Cook Islands 26-0 with Samuela Sorovi scoring a try and nailing three conversions.

The Maori side beat Tonga 17-0 and the Harlequins downed the Koori team 17-12 with Kden Carter scoring two tries.

The Pasifika Cup is in its second year. .

PASIFIKA CUP UNDER 16 BOYS TOURNAMENT

#On Friday Fiji beat a Koori side 15–0 in the under 16 boys division with the Maori side then defeating the Barbarians 19–7 and Samoa beating the Harlequins 34–0.

#On Saturday Tonga defeated the Barbarians 24–0, the Maori side beat the Cook Islands 7–5 and the Harlequins beat the Koori outfit 12-0. Joshua Moila and Dominic Jarrett scored the tries for the Harlequins.

#The Cook Islands then put in a top performance to beat the Barbarians, 31–7. Zac Matara scored a try and made two conversions in this match.

#Another big win was by Fiji with their 22-5 victory over the Harlequins.

There were hundreds of games played.

The event was played in Sydney’s west.

PASIFIKA CUP UNDER 16 GIRLS TOURNAMENT

#On Friday Fiji beat the Koori under 16 girls 32–0, Samoa Blue beat the Cook Islands 50–0, the Maori side beat Samoa White 36–0 and the Barbarians defeated Tonga 19–7.

#On Saturday Tonga just edged their Maori rivals 19–17, the Koori side beat the Cook Islands 24–5, Samoa Blue beat Fiji 34–20 and the Barbarians defeated Samoa White 36–0.

#Imogen Crowe and Maronay Smuts both scored two tries each for the Barbarians in their win.

PASIFIKA CUP YOUTH JUNIOR RUGBY WHALAN RESERVE boys and girls from U14s to U18s.

PASIFIKA CUP UNDER 18 BOYS TOURNAMENT

#On Friday Samoa beat Fiji 12–0, the Koori side beat the Maori side 13-12 in a thriller, Tonga downed the Barbarians 14–0 and Fiji beat the Cook Islands 12–0.

#On Saturday Samoa beat the Koori team 14 – 0 and Fiji beat Tonga 3-0 in the lowest scoring game of the day thanks to a Jeremiah Raniga penalty goal.

The Barbarians then beat the Cooks islands 7-0.

PASIFIKA CUP YOUTH JUNIOR RUGBY WHALAN RESERVE boys and girls from U14s to U18s.

PASIFIKA CUP YOUTH JUNIOR RUGBY WHALAN RESERVE boys and girls from U14s to U18s.

PASIFIKA CUP UNDER 18 GIRLS TOURNAMENT

On Friday, Samoa beat the Koori side 30–7, Tonga took down Fiji, 38–5, the Cook Islands beat the Barbarians 22–0 and Fiji beat Samoa, 15–12 in a great game.

On Saturday, the Cook Islands beat their Koori rivals 48–21 and Tonga defeated the Barbarians 47-5 with Monica Fasavalu-Faamausili one of the stars.

#The Barbarians then beat Fiji 14–12 and the Cook Islands beat Samoa 52–0 with Danielle Seckold one of the stars for the Cook Islands with two tries and a couple of conversions.

Essence Alo was another star with three tries in the match.

It was wet but that didn't dampen spirits at the Pasifika Youth Rugby Cup/

Originally published as Pasifika Youth Rugby Cup 2023 stars and standouts, best photos, day 1, 2 results