Regal Hotels Cup of Nations

Debutants at the Cup of Nations, the Pukpuks were thumped in their opening match to Hong Kong 51-5.

But a much improved performance on Tuesday this week saw the Pukpuks pile on some points in the second half despite going down to defending champions Russia 49-19.

For Zimbabwe, they lost to Russia in round one, but only by a narrow 19-15 score line. They then suffered their second defeat to Hong Kong 34-11 in their next match.

The Pukpuks and Zimbabwe game is scheduled for 2pm (4pm PNG time) on Saturday at the Hong Kong Football Club.

Russia captain and flanker Viktor Gresev was instrumental in the win with a hat trick of tries to his name.

The defending champions were out to a 21-0 lead after Gresev’s first two tries in the 12^th and 19^th minute.

The Pukpuks were on the board after 21 minutes of play when winger John Ephraim crossed over. An unsuccessful conversion brought the score to 21-5.

But Russia continued to pile on the points with more points to Anton Ryabov and Valery Tsnobiladze.