Lae Tigers fight back from deficit to beat Dabaris

By ROBINSON LEKA
LAE Tigers survived a first-half scare to beat Central Dabaris 40-16 in round three of the Digicel Cup at the Oil Search National Football Stadium in Port Moresby on Saturday.
After trailing 14-16 at halftime, the Tigers returned to post five unanswered tries with second-rower Kitron Laka scooping the man of the match award after scoring two tries.
A tightly-contested first half saw both sides score three tries each with the Dabaris crossing over through Papa Otto, Josh Erico and Andrew Solo.
The Tigers’ pack set the pace for their attack with Laka, Junior Rop and Roderick Tai scoring tries, however, missed conversions saw them go behind on the scoreboard while Dabaris five-eighth Nick Hasu kicked two goals from three attempts.
An injury-hit Dabaris in the second half saw Hasu and Wallen Tau-Loi fail to finish the game.
The Tigers dominated possession with Wendel Kipsy and SP Hunter Stanley Olo breaking through early for the lead.
The Tigers’ offence, led by Mark Tony and Jamie Mavoko, produced Laka’s second try before rugby union recruit Max Vali and centre Joshua Lau sealed the win with two more four-pointers.
“We had a slow start, but credit to the Dabaris,” Tigers coach Stanley Tepend said.
“They’re a good side, but we just had to re-group after the first half to get this win.
“For the senior players like Junior Rop and Stanley Olo, their contribution and experience was huge.”