Hunters fend off Jets’ raid

A 77th minute penalty is what separated the SP Papua New Guinea Hunters from the visiting Ipswich Jets in their Intrust Super Cup round 21 clash in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Coach Michael Marum’s side managed to snatch an 18-16 win in a game that could have gone either way at the National Football Stadium.

With the scores locked at 16-16 after 76 minutes of riveting if not unblemished action, a telling surge up mid field by the Hunters, firstly through wing Butler Morris and carried on by centre Justin Olam ended in prop Enock Maki producing a quick play-the-ball which caught the Jets out on marker defence and drew the penalty 35m out and almost in front of the uprights.
Hunters five-eighth Ase Boas stepped up to kick the winning goal but the home side still had some anxious moments after rolling through their set from the restart and giving possession back to the Jets from a scrum on their 30m line.
Jets centre Nemani Valekapa lost the ball while trying to squeeze a pass to winger Michael Purcell ending an absorbing contest which had the estimated 7000-plus local fans on the edge of their seats.
Despite being in eighth place heading into the fixture, reigning premiers Ipswich had earned the mantle of a bogey side for the Hunters, and the game plan cooked up by coaching brothers, Ben and Shane, certainly kept their side well in the game up to the final minute.
The visitors’ style of play proved a handful for the Hunters defence and saw them build up an early 4-0 lead thanks to two Hayden Lipp penalties by the 17th minute mark.
But an Adex Wera try off a brilliant cut-out pass by stand-in halfback Wartovo Puara Jr saw the Hunters level 4-4 after a quarter of the match gone.
The Jets had done their homework introducing a varied kicking game to their repertoire with an angled grubber their choice of restart, and they would regain possession from the ensuing scrum on three occasions after the Hunters frustratingly either failed to keep the ball in the field of play or fumbled the catch.
Back-rower Fakahoko Teutau crashed over in the 35th minute after sustained pressure on the Hunters’ line and the Jets were back in the lead 8-4 after Lipp missed the conversion.
Not to be out-done on counter-attacking plays, Hunters fullback Bland Abavu swooped on a chip by Jets No.7 Dane Phillips to beat several defenders before handing off to Olam, who skirted the left touchline on a 50m dash to the Jets’ ingoal.
Boas failed again in his second conversion attempt and the scores remained 8-8.
The Jets kept the Hunters defensive line guessing with their continuous angles and movement as well as second phase play and whippet Purcell collected a Jesse Roberts off-load near the Hunters line to score in the 31st minute pushing them out to a 14-8 lead at halftime.
The Hunters suffered a blow just before the break with captain Adam Korave helped off the field with a right knee injury.
Abavu sliced through for a four-pointer of his own in the 44th minute and this time Boas nailed the conversion to draw level at 14-14.
With a man down the Hunters did well to contain the Jets, who threatened on almost every attacking set, but in the end their penchant for non-stop attack worked against them as their error rate climbed – the Hunters weren’t far behind in this area as well.
One of the seemingly controversial, but right calls by referee Tim Rutherford saw reserve Watson Boas penalised after making contact with a Jets drop out that did not go the required 10m much to the bewilderment of his teammates.
The Jets were also guilty of intentional infringements, especially slowing the play-the-ball down, and paid for it conceding a penalty goal in the 55th minute while the Hunters gave away a penalty goal in the 65th minute.
With the scores locked at 16 apiece heading into the final 10 minutes, the side that caught the first break would more than likely come out on top and thankfully the Hunters were that side stretching their unbeaten run in PNG to 25 games and relegating the Jets to ninth place and all but ending their hopes of defending their title in 2016.
Hunters 18 (Adex Wera, Justin Olam, Bland Abavu tries; Ase Boas con, 2 pen) Jets 16 (Fakahoko Teutau, Michael Purcell tries; Haydan Lipp con, 2 pen, Dane Phillips pen)
Results: Round 21 – Fri, July 29: Cutters 14 Blackhawks 16; Sat, July 30: Hunters 18 Jets 16, Bears 24 Pride 25; Sun, July 31: Magpies 12 Falcons 48, WM Seagulls 34 TH Seagulls 14, Dolphins 60 Devils 16. Bye: Tigers, Capras.