Halfback Laka shines as Mioks march on

 By JOHN PANGKATANA

THE Enga Mioks have survived the first elimination bout, knocking the Lae Tigers out of the Digicel Cup rugby league race with a 24-16 win at the Lloyd Robson Oval in Port Moresby yesterday.

Staring at certain defeat, the Mioks can thank wiry halfback Roger Laka for a timely charge down late in the second-half that saw him sprint away for an 80-metre try to break the ice.

At that stage, the Lae franchise was in a commanding position and was content to run down the clock as they led 16-14.

By then the Tigers had done a mountain of work from being down 12-4 at half-time and virtually dominated their first 30 minutes with tries to centre Thompson Teteh, winger Richard Reto and centre Willie Minago.  

However, when half-back Atte Bine Wabo took the ball on the Mioks 20m line and looked to kick to the in-goal, he did not count on Laka to make the decisive play.

That proved to be the ice-breaker as the Tigers were still pinching themselves for letting that try through when the rampaging David Loko sliced through the middle off a Laka pass before handing off to hooker Philip Dama to seal the Tigers fate.

The Mioks were served well through the efforts of Loko running off plays at left-centre. Full-back Jeffrey Maino and winger Charlie Simon featured in the win.