Tonga has secured the final Oceania qualifying spot for the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018.
The Tongan team will compete in the Hong Kong qualifier in April.
It won the place after winning bronze in rugby sevens at the Pacific Mini Games in Vanuatu last month.
Tonga beat the Solomon Islands 24-19 to join the 21 other qualified men’s teams heading to San Francisco on 20-22 July, 2018.
Tonga’s first appearance was at the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens held in Scotland.
Tonga held its inaugural rugby sevens tournament last October.
A total of 20 teams competed in Nuku’alofa.
Tonga sevens head coach Taholo Anitoni and his officials took the opportunity to look at players before the Oceania Championships in Fiji.
Samoa won the tournament, beating Fiji 14-17 in the final.
There will be 24 men’s teams in total at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018.
A total of 13 teams qualified either by their placings at Moscow 2013 or via the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and 11 through regional qualifiers.
To date, nine of the 11 regional qualified teams are known, with Tonga joining Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Two other South American teams will be known this month to complete the 10 regional qualified sides.
The 10 sides will contest the Hong Kong Sevens qualifier in April to determine who takes seedings 15-24.
The top 14 seeds will be allocated to series qualified teams, with the points from their 2016-17 series being added to the first seven rounds of the 2018 world series.
The main points
- Tonga has secured the final Oceania qualifying spot for the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018.
- The Tongan team will compete in the Hong Kong qualifier in April.
- Tonga’s first appearance was at the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens held in Scotland.
- Tonga held its inaugural rugby sevens tournament last October
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