There was plenty of talent on display at the Queensland Pacific Island Cultural Carnival (QPICC), but a few of the commentators stole the show.
QPICC is an annual rugby league competition between Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Māori teams that also celebrates their cultures. It’s all a bit of fun, and the commentators made sure they had their fair share.
The word of the day was ‘capitalise’, a northern-easterly wind just would not go away and there were some ‘aspirating’ plays made.
Clips of their commentary posted to TikTok by JustSportsEditz went viral, having racked up hundreds of thousands of views and tens of thousands of likes.
When players made mistakes, the commentators failed to keep it professional. Like when a penalty kick to potentially win the final missed badly.
It wasn’t just the commentators cracking audiences up. Whoever was on the PA system at the venue put on a show too.
When a fella named Zion went missing, he announced to everyone in attendance that his family was looking for him and that “he gon’ get it”.
If you’re interested in the actual rugby being played, Samoa beat the Māori side 8 - 4 in a tightly fought Open Women’s Final. The Māori women’s team had won the last two competitions, but couldn’t quite get the three-peat.
For the Open Men’s final, Papua New Guinea took home the trophy, beating Samoa 12 - 8.
Another rugby moment that went viral recently was when Simon Raiwalui, the coach of the Fijian national rugby team, kindly congratulated Portugal after losing to them in the World Cup.
It was Portugal’s first-ever World Cup win and a heartbreaking one for Fiji. Raiwalui told them they deserved the result and even gifted them a bag of his team’s playing kit.
Remember to always be a good sport, and watch out for that northern-easterly wind.
