Champions maintain perfect start

By ROBINSON LEKA
DEFENDING champions Lae Tigers continued their perfect start to the Digicel Cup season with a 40-4 win over Gulf Isou in round four in Port Moresby on Saturday.
The Sir John Guise Stadium fixture saw the ladder leaders score four first-half tries through Papua New Guinea Kumuls utility Edwin Ipape, Junior Rop, Jokedi Bire and Jojo Wallamas. Ipape was sin-binned for an altercation with referee Francis Rumah in the first half, allowing Junior Hoki to score Isou’s only points of the match through an unconverted try.
In the second half, the Tigers used their size and strength in the forwards to go further in front with John Andy, Butler Morris and Mark Pitti grabbing a try each to seal their fourth-straight win.
While happy with his side’s win, Tigers coach Stanley Tepend said they needed to work on their discipline and cut down on unforced errors.
“Before the match, we spoke about how they could get under our skin and I think that’s what they did,” he said.
“When we allowed Gulf a bit of space, they dictated the terms and we started to make errors.”