Magani, Paga out of race

By ROBINSON LEKA
MAGANI and Paga Panthers were the first two Port Moresby Rugby Football League sides to be eliminated following week one of the A-grade finals at the Oil Search National Football Stadium on Sunday.
A second-half field goal from Souths halfback Tom Peter helped knock out Paga Panthers with a 5-4 win during the main elimination final.
Paga were the first to pounce in the opening half with halves Derick Laka and Billy Opa putting Souths under pressure with their kicking game.
A shaky opening from Souths saw them miss valuable possession with Paga dominating through second-rower John Kalimea and lock Jimson Mepil.
However, it was not enough as Souths held on for a scoreless first half. Paga’s set plays saw centre Sparo Thomas cross over on the left edge for their only try of the match with Laka unable to add the extras.
Souths found their way back into the game through forwards Rodwell John, Max Wai and Daniel Pai who laid the foundation for substitute William Mone to bag their first four points from dummy-half. The match turned into a tug of war with Peter breaking the deadlock via a field goal 15 minutes from fulltime.
Meanwhile, Kone Storm outclassed Magani to win 8-6 in the opening elimination final on Sunday. Magani were the first to score through front-rower Mara Tenda with five-eighth Conroy Augustine adding the extras for a 6-0 lead at halftime.
A composed Storm outfit, under skipper James Kore, responded in the second half with two unconverted tries to centre George John and winger Joel Tom to take over and end Magani’s season.