Gurias fire at home

By ELIZABETH VUVU
NGIP Agmark Gurias came out victorious 28- 18 against a more experienced Hela Wigmen side in round seven of the Digicel cup at Kalabond oval in Kokopo yesterday.
The visitors were first to score seven minutes into the game as Kumul winger Michael Mark touched down in the right corner. Justin Cudja failed to convert for an early 4-0 lead.
Gurias hit back through a try to centre Jacky Marcus set up by skipper, Pidi Tongap who drew Wigmen defenders to put his young charge through. Gurias took the lead 6-4 after the successful Israel Eliab conversion.
Gurias winger Boas Ruru put centre Chris Jerry in space for a corner try to extend the homeside’s lead to 12-4 in the 25th minute.
Wigmen’s Richard Kambo made the most of a defensive lapse by Ruru.
The Kumul winger picked up the ball froma  scrum to run in untouched for an unconverted try to trail 8-12.
Just before half time Gurias regained the momentum when Wigmen skipper Larsen Marabe  was caught out in the defensive as halfback Wartovo Puara Jr made a diagonal run to set up David Missiel for a try.
Eliab converted to push the margin to 10 points, 18-8 at the break.
Puara featured again early in the second half, zigzagging his way to the  tryline after catching tiring Hela defenders on the backfoot.
Despite the missed conversion Gurias were looking comfortable at 22-8.
But the Wigmen were not about to clock off  with former Guria Marabe backed up a Mark line break to score a converted try be 22-14 in arrears.
Wigmen built some steady pressure which saw Kambo claim his second try to edge closer to 22-18.
Gurias urged by the homecrowd camped in Wigmen territory breaking down the Hela defence until Jonathan Levi found a hole to score the matchwinner five minutes before fulltime.
Wigmen coach Luke Goodwin said his team’s biggest problem was their inability to effectively execute the game plan.
He said even though the boys completed their sets of six they all wanted to play first reciever instead of concentrating on their respective roles.
He conceded the Gurias played well against his more experienced side.
Gurias captain Obert Hondole was plased with the performance and said it put them in good stead for the next round.
He added that there needed to be trust and confidence instilled among the young Gurias in order to address their poor away record.