Hostplus Cup

This Saturday they host Tweeds Seagulls, in a must-win game situation.

The Tweed Seagulls also come into QRL Round 12 following a loss, having capitulated against the Wynnum Manly Seagulls after taking an early lead. The scoreboard read 12-6 after 20 minutes in that game, but by fulltime, Wynnum Manly had constructed another five tries to finish 38-18 winners.

Currently sitting in 7th position on the QRL Hostplus Cup ladder, Tweed will be desperate to return to their winning ways against the Hunters on Saturday afternoon and maintain their position inside the Top Eight.

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.

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.  
 

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. 

In a close affair, former Hunters coach Matt Church led the Tigers team to face a familiar Hunters line-up on home soil. With a home crowd advantage, Hunters were first to score in the fifth minute through Solo Wane with the conversion unsuccessful.

It was not too long when Tigers replied with a 4-pointer in the 13th minute through Brayden Torpy and soon after Hunter regrouped to put sneaky fullback Morea Morea over the line in the 18th minute, Brandon Nima scored in the 22nd minute, Julius Yakopa scored another not long in the 28th minute. 

Tenza has again worked really hard during off-season to impress Coach, Stanley Tepend and now part of the remaining Hunters 30-man squad for this year’s Hostplus Cup season.

Between 2014 and 2021 Weza Tenza although under-rated was one of the most dangerous dummy halves in the Digicel Cup competition. His quick bursts out of dummy and deceptive foot work has been his trademark for years but as the saying goes” good things come to those who wait”.

Jamie only played one season with the Lae Snax Tigers in 2021 Digicel Cup before he was slated in the Hunters squad last year.

Of mixed East New Britain and Manus parentage, Jamie is ready to dorn the Hunters strip with pride again this year after making it back into the squad for the 2023 season.

Jamie who grew up around the Konedobu area is the son of former Port Moresby Brothers rugby league legend, Wilson Mavoko. His short playing career only started three to four years ago with his beloved Kone Storms team participating in the Port Moresby Rugby League competition.

Round 1 of both competitions, Hostplus Cup and BMD Premiership is locked in for March 11.

The Western Clydesdales are building strong momentum heading into their first season in the Hostplus Cup as a new entity.

The Clydesdales launched their 2023 campaign with a home clash against the Papua New Guinea Hunters at Clive Berghofer Stadium.

In the BMD Premiership, the Cutters are drawn to play the Wynnum Manly Seagulls and the Devils go up against perennial powerhouse the Burleigh Bears in the opening weekend of fixtures.