MRDC 9s

In the Bowl division: Wests (1) vs Ril Roadsiders and Kone Storms (2) vs Butterflies (2).

To the Plate divison: Kone Storms (1) vs Dobo Warriors (1) and Souths (2) vs Wests (2).

Up to the Cup division: Hohola Flies (1) vs Royals (1) and Brothers (2) vs Tarangau  (2).

Tournament official, David Silovo said games will start at 10am with the Bowl division preliminary finals.

He said the Cup grand final will kick off at 3pm.

The girls in blue booked the first spot in the grand final after thumping Butterflies 20-0 in this afternoon’s preliminary final.

In the preliminary final that followed after, Hohola Flies held on tightly to beat Paga Panthers 8-4.

Tournament official, Meke Maino said the women’s Cup grand final will kick off at 1:30pm.

The game before that will be for the Plate between Butterflies and Paga Panthers, with the loser to settle for the Bowl.

Tournament official, John Mauve, said games had run smoothly so far in the men’s and women’s pools.

He said games will resume this Thursday with the finals on Sunday afternoon at the National Football Stadium.

The current standings in the men’s:

Pool A: Hohola Flies (4), Butterflies (2), Brothers (2), Paga Panthers (0)

Pool B: Kone Storms (4), Hawks (3), Wests (1), Souths (0)

Pool C: Magani (4), Ril Road Siders (2), Taranagu (2), Kone Tigers (0)

Pool D: Royals (4), Dobo Warriors (2), Komara Akua (2), Defence (0)

Three tries to Kone Tigers gave them the upper hand leading at halftime with the score at 14-6.

But Defence muscled their way back into the game and narrowed the lead in the second half after Alex Ovia crossed over.

The try was converted by Kennedy Jirua to make it 14-12 with three minutes of play left.

It seemed Kone Tigers had done enough to scrape home with a two point win as the fulltime siren sounded.

Speaking after the official kick off of the MRDC 9s this morning at the National Football Stadium, Manager- External Affairs, Steven Evekone said this year marks four years of support for the tournament.

‘We have invested over a K100,000 so far and would like to continue supporting the tournament in the future.

“With our support of such tournaments, we can give the youths something to do and help develop them.

In the men’s pool results from today, Brothers (1) def. Paga Panthers (1) 10-8, Kone Storms (1) def. Souths (1) 16-4, Magani (1) def. Kone Tigers (1) 18-12, Souths (2) def. Paga Panthers (2) 10-8, Hohola Flies (1) def. Butterflies (1) 8-4, Ril Road Siders def. Tarangau (1) 10-4 and Hawks (1) drew with Wests (1) 10-10.

In the women’s pool matches, Paga Panthers def. Sisters 12-8 and Souths def. Magani 18-0.

Games will resume tomorrow at 10am with Dobo Warriors (1) to play newcomers Komara Akua to start day two off.

According to coordinator, Meke Maino, 32 men’s and eight women’s teams have confirmed their participation.

“The men’s teams have been split into eight pools while the women’s to two pools. The only two new teams to the tournament are the Ril Road Siders and Komara Akua.

“Games will start tomorrow and will be played up until Sunday. We then have a couple of days off and then games will resume on March 2 up until March 5 (Sunday) which is when the finals will be played, “said Maino.