Vipers clip Muruks, Wigmen tame Lions The National, Monday 26th of May, 2014 By JOHN PANGKATANA REIGNING champions Port Moresby Vipers brought out some of that lost venom to inflict Mendi Muruks’ first home loss in the Digicel Cup rugby league competition at the Tente Oval yesterday. The Vipers were a totally different outfit to the one that went down to the Kemele-sponsored Hela Wigmen the previous weekend, as they outmuscled an out of sorts Muruks 26-14 in a polished performance. The Stop N Shop sponsored franchise although forced to play all their matches away this season showed glimpses of the premiership-winning form to upstage the Muruks. A disappointed Muruks chairman Pastor Isaac Joseph said the Vipers deserved to win as the homeside were over confident going on their recent form. “We were gone after the opening 20 minutes as they piled three quick tries in succession,” Joseph said. “The Muruks never recovered from that and on top of the high error count we were basically playing catch-up football all afternoon,” he added. He did mention that his playmaker Stanley Olo was again at his individual best at dummy half and off the bench Josiah Keviame was their hardest trier despite the loss. While in the other clash of the double-header in the Southern Highland’s capital, the Wigmen now take a clear four-point lead in Pool 1 after beating the TNA-sponsored Simbu Lions of Kundiawa 26-14 as well. Wigmen board chairman Andy Hetra praised coach Jack Kereme for making crucial changes at the right time that proved to be the deciding factor in the match. “With the Lions taking a handy 10-0 lead from the start, he (Kereme) brought former Kumul George Moni off the bench with great affect,” Hetra said. Moni scored the Wigmen’s opening try and then inspired hard-running prop Benjamin Hetra to bulldoze his way over for a converted try near the uprights to take a 12-10 lead to half-time. The Wigmen without their experienced hands in Joseph Omai and Charlie Wabo still showed they have good depth with debutant Jeremy Ludwik scoring two tries. Despite the Lions coming within striking distance at one stage when the scores were 16-14, the Wigmen engine room came to life with Moni, Hetra, Felix Tangue and Raymond Tia setting the platform for Andrew Ipi to extend the lead to 20-14. Then Ludwick ran in for his second try to put the game beyond reach for the Lions.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 03:49:05 +0000
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