Gurias on hunt

 By JOHN SUPA

THE Bintangor Goroka Laha­nis face an acid test at home on Sunday that will decide how they fare in Digicel Cup rugby league this year.

The Lahanis face reigning champions Agmark Rabaul Gurias in a top of the table blockbuster.

Both teams are unbeaten and are already shaping up as strong contenders for the finale in September.

The Lahanis won back-to-back premierships under former master coach Peter Danga in 2010 against the Mendi Mu­ruks in Lae and in 2011 over the Gurias in Port Moresby.

The Gurias stamped their authority with the victory over the Muruks last year. They have shown their pedigree by becoming the only team from Papua New Guinea to record two wins from two games in Australia last year.

Sunday’s game will boil down to who makes the fewest mistakes as novice Lahanis coach Peter Warlock faces with the experienced Michael Marum.

Under Marum over the past 10 years, the Gurias have won four grand finals, and are always in the top four.

The Lahanis, apart from their back-to-back wins, have been hot and cold under different coaches.

Marum, who has been in Goroka all this week helping Kumuls high performance director coach Mal Me­ninga and coach Adrian Lam, checked out the Lahanis drills, saying “we are going to the top of the table so we are expecting a hard game”.

Marum said he had not named his starting thirteen. “We have yet to go back (from Goroka) and look at how the rest of the players have trained the whole week before we announce the team, we might have a few changes from last weekend’s team,” he said.