Boas stars as Kumuls level series

WATSON Boas answered his critics with an inspired performance to help the PNG LNG Kumuls beat the England Knights 32-22 and level the two-game series 1-1 on Saturday.
The 24-year-old kicked a perfect six from six and added a try assist and came into his own after shifting to dummy half to accomodate brother Ase Boas who came off the bench.
Boas, who was maligned by fans after a poor effort with the boot in the Kumuls’ 16-12 loss to the Knights last week, came back in the best possible manner and narrowly missed out on the man-of-the-match award after a spell in the sin bin.
The Kumuls scored five tries to the Knights’ four in an entertaining clash at the Oil Search National Football Stadium with an estimated 4000 fans in attendance.
A scrappy opening 40 minutes saw England take an 18-12 lead thanks to tries to wingers Tommy Lineham (11th minute), Tom Davies (15th) and fullback Jack Walker (29th) while five-eighth Declan Patton notched three conversions.
Boas put back-rower Nixon Put through a gap in the Knights’ line for a try in the 24th minute to give the partisan crowd something to cheer about brother Ase did likewise for centre Justin Olam in the 39th minute with younger brother Watson converting both four-pointers.
Spurred on by the crowd and looking to finish strongly over the tiring Englishmen, the Kumuls were first to score in the second stanza through Ase Boas who twisted and turned his way to ground the ball over the line in the 46th minute.
With the wind in their sails, the Kumuls added another a four-pointer as skipper Mead crashed over in the 49th minute after Knights No.1 Walker and No.2 Davies collided into each other trying to defuse an Ase bomb.
The Kumuls led 24-18 lead and Macdonald pushed the lead to 12 points (30-18) with a try after chasing a Kyle Laybutt grubber in the 58th minute.
England hit back through Lineham in the 68th minute but PNG had the last laugh with Watson kicking an 80th minute penalty.