Another black day

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THE Digicel Cup rugby league double header in Lae yesterday was marred when brawls broke out in both matches as SBSL Mendi Muruks beat TNA Simbu Lion 32-12 and Agmark Rabaul Gurias muzzled the Lae Snax Tigers 28-14.
Lions coach Pierre Vandome loudly made known his darkest thoughts, shouting: “Shame, shame on us,” after helping team officials physically pull off and stop his players from fighting in the second half. Vandome had to pull away his centre, Hoxii Kii, who continued to verbally abuse Muruks players.
The first brawl erupted after the Muruks’ international winger, Michael Mark, was stopped short from scoring in the corner. After an exchange of words, he was mobbed by the Lions.
That brawl saw Lae referee Luxxie Metta sin-binning Mark and the Lions’ Aaron Paul leaving 12 players on each team.
In the other match, Gurias second rower, Daniel Pai, ran for the safety of his bench with Tigers players in pursuit.
The Tigers players then turned on the Gurias reserves as team owner Ian Chow and his family looked on.
After the melee which saw missiles thrown into the field including a beer bottle by fans, Port Moresby referee Ben Kaupa sin-binned Gurias substitute forward Bradley Simon and Tigers hooker Mose Lam while placing Tigers halfback Mai Tom on report for his part in attacking a Guria player during the melee.
   
Lae police task force personnel were forced to stand guard at the perimeter of the field to deter rowdy Gurias fans who were calling for the blood of the Tigers players.
The Papua New Guinea National Rugby League will be under pressure to take stern action over yesterday’s brawls after a similar incident in last week’s double header in Lae.
A field invasion by Bingtagor Goroka Lahanis fans two weekends ago saw their team losing the hosting rights for the remainder of the season.
The Muruks-Lions match was a quiet one compared to the main match but a composed Muruks piled in six tries, with three converted.
Lions replied with three unconverted tries, winger Robert Darma scoring two in the first half and captain and lock Radley Brawa scoring on halftime. Aaron Paul missed his conversion attempts.
Muruks young five-eighth Kewa Kili who has grown influential in each match in his ball distribution and intelligent kicks, scored the first try in the 23rd minute followed by Malaki Owen and veteran forward Joseph Omae in the first half.
Despite being switched into the centre from wing, Muruks try-scoring wizard Mathew Puke added another to his tally in the second half assisted by midfield partner Garnot Awo and Ronie Tenza with a try each.
In the second match, the Tigers despite being the first to score in the first half through new centre Willie Minoga, earned their other 10 points through the boot of halfback Mai Tom who kicked the conversion and slotted two penalties in the second half.
Gurias, who led 12-6 at halftime through tries to fullback Albert Patak and left winger Chris Jerry, came back in the second half and managed to score three more from centres Jack Marcus and Nelson Daplen before Jerry grabbed a second try seconds before the fulltime hooter sounded.
Gurias five-eighth Rolly Matalau converted two tries and a penalty, and Markus kicked the converted the last try.
The Gurias moved their ball fluidly from wing to wing with speed through second-man plays to blunt the Tigers’ aggression.
Tigers speed star Robert Vuai was shaded by Jerry.
Jerry produced the hit of the match when he timed his tackle perfectly to knock over Tigers prop Joseph Ninkama who had to be taken off the pitch for a breather.
That hit upped the aggression between the two teams in the lead-up to the brawl.
This is new Tigers coach Stanley Tepend’s second straight loss after taking over from Steve Malum three weeks ago.
Muruks will take on the Vipers in Port Moresby next Sunday while the Tigers will host the Lions in Lae.