POMRFU pleas for players’ inclusion

By KEITH PUARIA
PORT Moresby Rugby Football Union (POMRFU) president Arnold Amet Jr has written to his Capital Rugby Union (CRU) counterpart John Beattie in a move that will allow POMRFU players the opportunity for representative honours in the upcoming National 15s Championships (NPC) if agreed to.
Amet’s letter, dated August 16 in reply to a letter from Beattie on May 17, comes after PNG­RFU operations manager Sailosi Druma revealed in last Tuesday’s edition of The National that the National Provincial Championships scheduled for Sept 14-16 in Lae would include only four teams from the National Capital District (NCD), Morobe, West New Britain and a combined Madang/Eastern Highlands Province team.
Druma had also stated that PNGRFU only recognised affiliate unions that play fifteens rugby, and that only CRU would represent NCD.
Amet in his letter proposed for consideration that the CRU side that would represent NCD should come from trials between CRU and POMRFU.
“We consider that this approach would be in the spirit of the move toward a unified competition in NCD,” Amet wrote.
“We respectfully suggest that POMRFU and CRU should immediately select two sides each with a view to hosting matches between these four sides, and which matches should be used as selection trials for the selection of a team to represent NCD.”
A favourable response from Beattie could see NCD produce the strongest possible side in a very long time to the NPC, having to select from two very strong competitions