round 13

Muruks lead with 22 points followed by Gurias and Wigmen with 20 points apiece. Reigning champions Tigers are on 17 points.

As intensity continues to build in the country's premier rugby league competition with only 4 more rounds left of the regular season, the Southern Highlands franchise, continued their current winning form with another dominant display over bottom placed Wamp Nga Mt.Hagen Eagles 36-8 in Lae yesterday.

After 13 rounds of competition the Roderick Puname coached side have kept a season's best record yet of 11 wins with only two losses.

The heat is on for the Digicel Cup rugby league competition with another triple header set for this weekend in Port Moresby.

The Vipers-Gurias clash was initially scheduled for tomorrow, 30^th July in Kokopo but relocated to the Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby as part of the triple header.

As the competition heads into the business end of the season with five matches remaining, Vipers have slipped back into the top 6 after last week’s win over Mt Hagen Eagles.

According to alternative arrangement, matches will be played in Lae, Goroka and Port Moresby on Sunday 1^st July, 2022.

For the Port Moresby fans, the Santos National Football Stadium will host a triple header this Sunday with the Moni Plus NCDC Port Moresby Vipers playing the Agmark Rabaul Gurias at 11am.

Despite their position on the ladder, the Jets came out firing from the kick off, charging upfield with their first set to attack the Hunters’ line. The visitors’ defence held but it was a sign of things to come, with Ipswich dominating field position and yardage early on to score tries through Ricci Falaniko and Denzel Burns inside the first 10 minutes.

Having been beaten out of the gates, the PNG side mustered to drag themselves back in the contest thanks to the silky attacking skills of Judah Rimbu at fullback.

With Joseph Tapine and Ryan Sutton leading the way up front the Green Machine converted a six-point half-time advantage into their sixth win of the season despite a herculean performance by Roosters fullback Joey Manu (34 runs for 300 metres).

The Roosters got across the stripe in the fifth minute through Sitili Tupouniua but the try was denied due to obstruction by Nat Butcher in the lead-up.

Four minutes later the Raiders got the ball rolling when Adam Elliott powered over from close range off a short ball from dummy half Zac Woolford.

The Raiders have won three of five at home this season and will be smarting after pushing the Eels to the limit on Sunday but ultimately going down by eight points.

These two sides have engaged in some epic battles in recent years dating back to the 2019 grand final, when a fair dash of controversy surrounded the Roosters' victory and Raider Jack Wighton had the rare honour of collecting the Clive Churchill Medal in a beaten side. 

The Sea Eagles dominated every facet of the game virtually from the outset to storm to a 24-0 half-time lead and went on with the job in the second term to achieve their first win during the Origin period since 2015.

While captain Daly Cherry-Evans was the only Manly player on Origin duty, star fullback Tom Trbojevic is out for the season with a shoulder injury but their forwards, led by Haumole Olakau’atu, were too much to handle for the Warriors.

Sean O'Sullivan, Kurt Falls and Matt Eisenhuth took on the roles of halfback Nathan Cleary, five-eighth Jarome Luai and lock Isaah Yeo and played starring roles in the 30-18 win.

Strike forward Viliame Kikau, who will join the Bulldogs next season, fullback Dylan Edwards, prop James Fisher-Harris and hooker Api Koroisau led the way for the Panthers, whose left side attack was as potent as ever.

A number of Penrith players were rested from NSW Cup duties on Sunday so they'd be fresh for duty if called up to face the Bulldogs, including playmaker Sean O'Sullivan who performed admirably in the first three rounds of the season while Nathan Cleary recovered from shoulder surgery.

The Bulldogs showed plenty of good signs on an emotional day at their spiritual home Belmore but still came up short to remain at the bottom of the table.