Kayoed in Rocky

THE SP PNG Hunters encountered a confident Central Queensland Capras outfit at Browne Park, Rockhampton in Round 2 of the QRL Hostplus Cup, going down 38-18 in a fiery contest on Saturday.
The Hunters again showed glimpses of the resolute goal-line defence they displayed in Round 1 against Wynnum-Manly but could only do so much against an opportunistic Capras attack in the evening fixture.
The home side made the most of a favourable penalty count to dominate territorially and come away with seven tries thanks to the weight of possession and field position.
In what ultimately became a theme for Saturday’s contest, the Capras impressed with their goal-line defence in the face of a threatening Hunters attack. PNG debutant Junior Talin looked immediately at home on the left edge early on to offer some genuine punch outside five-eighth Sakias Komati, but the home side had all the answers to begin with.
Having earned possession courtesy of their defensive efforts, the Capras then won the first of many relieving yardage penalties to quickly march into attacking territory themselves.
Backrower Jesse Jennings took his chances from there to open the scoring for the home side.
Rising to the challenge, the Hunters wasted no time hitting back.
Hunters five-eighth Sakias Komati organised some shape to his outside before selling a dummy and poking his nose through the line. As the Capras defence scrambled around the posts, Komati played the ball quickly enough for Judah Rimbu to find Seal Kalo with a wide pass from dummy-half to score.
The running games of Komati, centre Elijah Roltinga and fullback Sanny Wabo continued to cause problems for a tiring Capras defence as the game went on.
PNG looked purposeful in attack and took the right options more often than not as they moved the ball along the backline, but ill-discipline in defence consistently undid all their positive work in possession. Despite PNG looking the better side when the game was in the grind, consecutive yardage penalties again gifted Central Queensland cheap field position and slowly swung the momentum back in their favour.
Given how much ball the home side were beginning to enjoy inside PNG’s half, the guile and speed of Capras hooker Trey Browne was becoming an issue.
The Hunters defended desperately on their own try line and looked like repelling the home side against all odds, but as fatigue set in the pressure finally told.
The Capras struck twice more through Jennings and Blake Moore midway through the first half.
It looked like the Capras might run away with it as half time approached, only for PNG to produce some special defensive efforts with their backs against the wall.
A spectacular try saving tackle from Jordan Pat finally turned the tide as the Hunters won back possession. Reserve hooker Finley Glare provided some attacking verve setting up Manisa Kai for a try on debut for the PNG side to trial 14-12 at the break.
The second half followed a similar trend to the first. PNG were asked to absorb some early pressure with their defence before earning opportunities for themselves in attack.
In response, Central Queensland again showed their quality without the ball to turn away a growing Hunters offence on multiple occasions. All of PNG’s creative attacking players – Komati, Lau, Wabo, Roltinga – looked likely throughout this period but couldn’t find the last pass as the home side scrambled desperately.
Compounding this lack of finishing for the Hunters was prop Kai spending 10 minutes in the bin for dangerous play and that was all the invitation the Capras needed to put on points through Trey Brown, Bob Tenza, Blake Moore and Khaiya Waiembi.
Komati punctuated the Capras points with a trademark show-and-go effort but the gap proved too big for the visitors to bridge.
Hunters coach Paul Aiton was disappointed with his side’s discipline.
“We just hurt ourselves,” Aiton said.
“There were too many penalties and we just asked ourselves to make too many tackles. Eventually that pressure and fatigue told and they were good enough to take their chances. I thought we scrambled really well at different times and made it difficult for them. We just ran out of gas in the second half,” Aiton conceded.
The Hunters return to the Santos National Football Stadium this Saturday to host the Sunshine Coast Falcons in round three.