It wasn’t a good hunt yesterday afternoon at the Santos National Football Stadium (NFS) for the SP PNG Hunters, the Hunters boys put up a very tough fight against the tigers from Brisbane but fell short of just two points.
With a home crowd advantage, the Hunters scored in the first 5th minute putting them in the lead, but the Brisbane Tigers hit back with a 4-pointer in the 13th minute and soon after, the Hunters retaliated with fullback Morea Morea crossing over the line with another two more ties for the Hunters.
But the Tigers hit back with another two more tries with all successful conversions putting them in the lead at half time 20 to 18. In addition to the misery of the Hunters in the first half, five-eight Sakias Komati was sent to the sinbin at the very last-minute, living the Hunters a man short for the start of the second half.
After a rocky first half, just 5 minutes into the second half of the game, a quick play by the Tigers side earned them their first try, but a quick comeback by Hunters through Morea Morea set the score board at 24 points all.
Even though the weather was pretty grey and hot, the Hunters tried their best at the very last minute to try equalizing the score board but the Tigers came back strong and held them off with another two tries and both successful conversions and a penalty kick, putting them in the lead at full time 38 to 36.
Hunters Coach Stanley Tepend said the boys could have done better if they didn’t miss the 2 conversions. It was a close game and again the Hunters kicking game failed the team.
“The boys just need to practice more on their kicking and hopefully they will surely do that to improve on their kicks.”
“Discipline was also another pointer that the boys need to work on. Apart from them improving on their kicking skills, they really need to work and pull up on their discipline before our next match,” said Tepend.