The NCD Schools Rugby League competition’s second week of elimination round kicked off this morning at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby. Moresby North East Coordinator Mr. Michael Anaya said, so far, a total of 9 schools remain in these elimination round and the finals to be held next weekend. The divisions for the boys are the U15, U17 & U19 boys team while the girls are U16 & U18. According to Mr. Anaya, the games played today (Saturday 22nd) are Fridays games which were pushed too today due to the field been occupied. Which means, the elimination round will see the last games played on Monday 24th June before they head into the finals over the weekend. Mr. Anaya said, this year saw around 20 schools in the North East area registered in this year’s NCD School’s Rugby League Competition. “That’s roughly around 50 plus kids playing from various registered schools.” He added that through this school’s rugby competition, they have seen positive changes in the students and want to continue to push talented young players into the Vipers Academy pathway program for international selections especially with the Hull Kingston Rovers in the UK. “From this level, we are preparing our students for the POM Vipers Academy which is a pathway program for the students taking part in these competition.” He added that, with the linked partnership with the UK Super League Club, 2 students who took part in the NCDSRL completion since 2021 and have been with the POM Vipers Academy have been selected in their scholarship program to study and play in the UK. “Two were selected and they’ll be playing for Hullkens and they are already in." "One is from Kilakila Secondary School and the other student is from La Salle Technical Secondary School." "This is a very good pathway for all our participating students.” Meanwhile, the first elimination round for the under 15s saw St Therese defeat Ted Diro 6-0.