SP PNG Hunters

Kicking off a stretch of four games at the spiritual home of rugby league in Port Moresby, the Hunters ran out to an early lead but couldn’t overcome two sinbins and an injury to skipper, Ila Alu. 

The Pride made the most of their opportunities after the break to score three second half tries as the rain began to fall on the Santos NFS turf. 

When they met in Round 5, Northern Pride proved too strong for Hunters 34-14 at Barlow Park, Cairns.

Coming off their second half comeback loss to Wynnum Manly Seagulls last week, PNG Hunters would be looking for a strong start against Pride tomorrow to avenge their loss in Cairns.

Hunters have a tendency of allowing opposition teams to hit their strap in the first half before launching a comeback, which has backfired on them especially playing away games. This was evident against Wynnum last week.

They chased down a 22-point lead and almost coming away with the result in a 28-24 loss to the Wynnum Manly Seagulls on Saturday afternoon.

The form the Hunters displayed in this game was in complete contrast to their Round 9 performance the previous week.

Kickoff is Friday, 12th May at 6:30pm.  
 
The Hunters will ride a wave of confidence into Friday’s matchup having secured back-to-back wins in their last two games. Making the most of their home ground advantage, the Hunters put on a show for the locals at the Santos National Football Stadium in the last fortnight to register wins over the Mackay Cutters and Ipswich Jets.  
 

A heaving crowd at the Santos National Football Stadium was treated to a smorgasbord of attacking football on Saturday afternoon as the Hunters and Jets traded shots in a high-scoring affair.

The points didn’t come straight away, though. Both sides were disciplined to begin the game and worked through their sets cleanly to kick to the corners. The Hunters enjoyed good service from middles Henry Wan Noki, Ila Alu and Junior Rop in the opening stages as they rolled downfield, while the Jets kicking game kept them in the yardage battle.

The Hunters outplayed the Mackay Cutters last weekend to collect two competition points on the back of a resounding 18-10 win. The Hunters defended a desperate Cutters outfit as they mounted a comeback midway through both halves but for all their desperation, Mackay never really got close.  
 
The Hunters dominated the ruck area once the game settled into a grind, thanks largely to the work of their back five in exit sets.  
 

An early penalty in yardage from the home side put Mackay on the attack early. As they’ve done in most games this season though, the Hunters turned up in defence to repel the Cutters on both edges.

A try saving tackle from Junior Rop on his own line summed up the defensive intent PNG started with in this one. 

As the game settled into a grind, both sides played conservatively in yardage. They traded blows through the middle of the field and either died with the ball on the last or kicked to the corners. 

Hunters centre Rodrick Tai and fullback Morea Morea have both been invited to train with The Dolphins NRL squad over the next month as they continue their rugby league development.

Tai, who spent the offseason in Redcliffe under the watchful eye of Wayne Bennett, rejoins The Dolphins training squad this week on the back of a compelling start to the Hostplus Cup season. The strike centre has two tries and an average 129 running metres from four games this year to consistently be one of the Hunters best.

The former Guria and PNG LNG Kumul decided to join the Sepik team in the hope of using his experience to boost the standard of domestic rugby league competition in the country.

"For me to go down at the Digicel Cup level, I can see the big difference in the level of game between Digicel Cup and QRL Hostplus,” Puara said. "And for me to go down there, I can help the boys in the competition there using my experience so once they come to Hunters, they're ready for that level and we can see improvement in our SP Hunters team.”