Minor premiers Mioks get finals opening round off

The National Sports

By MELTON PAIS
THE Papua New Guinea National Rugby League Competition has confirmed the top five teams for the Digicel Cup qualifying finals at the National Football Stadium, Port Moresby, on Sunday.
PNGNRLC administrator Stanley Hondina confirmed the Enga Mioks as the number one team in the competition after 18 rounds and the minor premiers.
The Agmark Gurias finished second followed by the Waghi Tumbe, Lae Tigers and Goroka Lahanis.
The first week of the finals series will see the Mioks have the weekend off while the remaining four teams would play in the qualifying finals.
In the double-header at NFS, Hondina said the Gurias would take on the Tumbe while the Tigers face the Lahanis.
“The winner of Gurias-Tumbe game advances to play the Mioks inmajor semifinal while the loser would play the winner of Tigers -Lahanis game in the minor nsemifinal next week.
The Tigers, who are the two-time premiers and defending champions face the Lahanis in the eliminator.
Hondina said the Tigers and Lahanis both had a slow start to the season but found form and nconsistency to make the top five.
The Gurias-Tumbe fixture will be the first game at the National Football Stadium followed by Tigers-Lahanis fixture.
Hondina said the competition had run 18 rounds of round robin matches and had produced another year of solid rugby league.
“This is step in the right direction as the competition moves forward we’re hoping to make improvements after reviews and that should see the standard on and off the field get better.”
Meanwhile, Hondina said the major and minor semifinals would be staged in Lae next week because of the PNG Hunters round 23 Q-Cup match against the Wynnum Manly Seagulls in Port Moresby.
“The decision to take the preliminary finals to Lae was done by an independent committee before the top five was decided,” Hondina said. Hondina said the Digicel Cup wanted to have its own event at a separate venue and he was confident the double-header in Lae would attract a large crowd at the Lae Rugby League Oval.