Samoan International referee Avii Faalupega Magele officiated the historical international match of Women’s 15s that was held in Papua New Guinea last weekend.
Full time rugby development officer at the Samoa Rugby Union, Avii officiated her first international match back in 2016.
Ever since then, she has become a well-established referee in the Oceania region.
“My first ever international appointment was when I got selected by the Oceania Match Officials to go and referee the 7’s in Oceania, in Fiji for Australian 7’s”.
The Tongan Womens XV were up against the ANZ PNG Cassowaries Women’s 15s at the Oceania Rugby Women’s repechage for a spot at the Rugby World Cup.
The match was officially opened by James Marape, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, accompanied by Lady Tufi, the first lady to the Governor General and the Oceania Rugby General Manager, Bruce Cook.