Hela Wigmen shock defending champions

By JACK AMI
THE Kroton Hela Wigmen shocked Digicel Cup defending champions Bintangor Goroka Lahanis 18-4 in the elimination final at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Solid defence and better handling enabled the Wigmen to keep their season alive. They now face Waghi Tumbe, who lost to the Lae Snax Tigers 12-20, this weekend for another crack at the grand final.
The Wigmen began the match with purpose and were rewarded with unconverted tries to Gilmo Paul and winger Richard Tuweiyo (double) to take a 12-0 lead at halftime.
The Lahanis’ afternoon was plagued with poor handling and ordinary defence which put the Wigmen on the front foot.
Wigmen’s Emmanuel Waine follow up from last week’s two-try haul with a man-of-the-match performance.
Waine combined well with fellow forwards Kerry Pep, Valentine Culligan, Yaksi Kila and Yves David against Lahanis skipper Gonzella Urakusie, Jacob Gibbs, Ake Paluse and Isaac Patrick.
Lahanis winger Jacob Kepea scored an unconverted try in the 71st minute to trail 4-12 but that was all they could manage as Wigmen hooker Dobi Michael scored a converted try to seal the match moments from fulltime.
Wigmen coach Andiki Andrew said: “Our defence held up well for the entire match.
“We had to do the hard yards in the first half and limit our errors which won us the game.
“We knew that to win this game, we had to pull our sleeves up and put in the hard work from the kick-off.
“We’ll now review the match and work on our errors before the Tumbe clash.”