Kone Storm defeat defending premiers in thrilling encounter

A 68th MINUTE field goal by Kone Storms utility Ben Fege proved decisive to edge reigning premiers Hohola Flies 9-8 in the Port Moresby Rugby League men’s A grade round two match on Friday at the National Football Stadium oval two.
The left footer took the shot on the fourth tackle from the 30 metre mark and made no mistake to disappoint the Flies in an evenly affair which was riddled with ball handling errors towards the backend of the match.
Fege earlier he kicked a 40-metre penalty goal with five minutes remaining before fulltime to lock the scores 8-8.
Flies had an excellent set of six in the dying stages in the Storms half but ignored the message from the bench by coach Jezreel Oyeigana for a drop goal to equalise the score.
Instead the players opted to score a try and a drop ball in front of the up rights denied the Hohola team a win.
Storms’ stand in coach Terry Kaupa said they were lucky to snatch the two competition points with better communication from the spine led by hooker Fege and halves combination by Konaka and Chris Kitu, who controlled the game against a tough opposition.
“We were fortunate to have the presence of PNG Hunters five-eighth Jamie Mavako boosting the moral and confidence of the players with his strong pep talk before the game,” Kaupa said.
“It was not an easy encounter as our opposition were current title holders and were no easy-beaters so we had to defend solidly to overcome their runners in our green zone.
“We promoted our young energetic Under-20 players to give them opportunities and encourage discipline in the team. We are now strict on players discipline, especially training attendance and change of attitude to be fair to all who commit their time and efforts and not dwell on seniority like previous seasons.” Meanwhile on Saturday, Magani handed Kone Tigers their second defeat 14-6 to remain unbeaten.
Hanuabada Hawks came back from behind to shock Gulf West 20-16 in a tight contest decided in the crucial stages of the match while Royals controlled the momentum to hold off Paga Panthers 24-18 to snatch two wins after round two.