Team Central top pool in nines rugby league

The National Sports

By HENRY MORABANG, ISAAC LIRI and LARRY ANDREW
TEAM Central topped pool B of the PNG Games rugby league nines competition despite forfeiting their last match of the day to West Sepik at the Peter Humphreys Oval in Kimbe yesterday.
Earlier wins over Chimbu (26-8) and Gulf (16-0) were enough to keep the Papuans on top of the pool standings.
Central were impressive against a lackluster Chimbu side and kept their Gulf neighbours scoreless.  However they forfeited their match against West Sepik after leaving the venue early due to rain.
Team Madang on the other hand are undefeated in pool A after beating hosts West New Britain 16-14 in a tough contest and then outclassing Milne Bay 24-4.
East New Britain finished the day with strong performances. They registered a big win over West (24- 4), held Southern Highlands to a 4-all and then managed to get over a hard fighting Gulf side (24-22).
Team West Sepik and Milne Bay are yet to register a win as rugby nines goes into recess today.
Yesterday West Sepik lost to Chimbu (8-18), lost to East New Britain and then went on to secure five points from a forfeit against Central.
Milne Bay, on the other hand, fell short against NCD 18-14 and then went down to Madang who seem to be a force to reckon with.
Southern Highlands, Eastern Highlands and NCD played only one game yesterday as Southern Highlands defeated Chimbu 6-0 in the final game of the day.
Eastern Highlands went down to West New Britain (16-8) in their only game of the day.
Technical official Kila Vere described the second day  of rugby 9s as successful and confirmed tomorrow as a day off for the code.
Results: Central 26 Chimbu 8, ENB 24 Sandaun 4, Madang 16  WNB 14, NCD 18 Milne Bay 14, ENB 4 drew SHP 4, Central 16 Gulf 0, Simbu 18 Sandaun 8, WNB 16 EHP 8, Madang 24 Milne Bay 4, ENB 24 Gulf 22, Sandaun 5 forfeited Central 0, SHP 6 Simbu.
Standings:
Pool A: Madang 8 points, NCD 6 points, WNB 4 points, Milne Bay 2 points, EHP 0 points. Pool B: Central 8 points, SHP 6 points,Simbu 6 points, Sandaun 2 points, Gulf 0.