ENB edge neighbours to claim NGI 9s title

By MICHAEL PHILIP
EAST New Britain edged West New Britain 12-10 to claim the New Guinea Islands (NGI) Confederation championship of the Telikom Nines rugby league tournament at the Kalabond Oval in Kokopo last weekend.
Team ENB coach Leo Unagi told The National that an NGI representative side were set to travel to Port Moresby on Friday to face their Southern Confederation rivals.
“The tournament was great,” he said.
“We are working on selections now.
“Hopefully, by Thursday, we should have the full squad before we travel to Port Moresby on Friday.”
Unagi, who is also the NGI Confederation, said the tournament had given an opportunity to young talents in the region to showcase their rugby league skills and push for selection into a representative side.
He said such tournaments were pathways for talents to be scouted by Digicel Cup franchises as a springboard to the SP Hunters and Papua New Guinea Kumuls.
“This is good exposure for raw NGI talents,” Unagi said.
“Selections for the NGI Confederation are tough.
“We’ve identified many good talents, but there is limited space.
“I believe this is a great pathway to Digicel Cup teams.”
Unagi praised his team for claiming the NGI Confederation championship.
“They performed well,” he said.
“We completed our sets and our defence was solid. We worked on our attack and ball distribution which resulted in a successful campaign.
“I picked six Gurias academy players while the rest were from the town competition.”