Gas Resources Central Dabaris almost pulled off an upset over the flamboyant East New Britain Agmark Gurias holding them to a 12-all draw at full-time on Saturday in Port Moresby.
Gurias always had the woods on Dabaris ever since they entered the semi-professional competition in 2019, however, in the weekend’s showdown they were a completely different outfit.
Going into their 5th season of the Digicel ExxonMobil Cup competition, the Dabaris have taken the turn from easy beats to a competitive playing group that is ready to give the competition a real red hot crack in 2024.
If anything, their courageous performance against competition heavyweights Gurias on Saturday must not go unnoticed as they continue to build momentum at the back of an intense preseason that saw several marquee players join the camp this year.
From the get-go, Dabaris took the more fancied Guria side with a strong defensive mindset to unsettle their game plan forcing them into errors. Gurias did not panic but kept peppering the Dabaris goal line but to no avail. Gurias got two easy points from a penalty earlier for a two-point lead before Dabaris hit back with a try through Mathew Wauwe beautifully setup up by Nicky Hasu to take the lead 6-4.
Imposing backrower and man of the match Simon Johnson got the Gurias back in front with a converted try to retain the lead. A silly penalty by Gurias right in front put Dabaris back on equal term at 8-8 until halftime.
Both teams displayed their craft in attack with a lot of energy, speed, skill, and agility in their set plays that kept their fans on the edge of their seats. Defensively both teams put in a lot of effort and held their line well for the majority of the second half, and could only manage a try each with Junias Guan for Gurias and Gairo Voro for Dabaris to close out the epic match-up at 12 all.
Although both coaches were happy to take the one point they admitted there is a lot of work to do in attack, mainly completion rate and execution.