Poor defence

A POOR second half defensive effort by the PNG Hunters saw the side slump to their first home loss and third for the season against a classy Redcliffe Dolphins on Saturday.
The 39-20 loss left a small but vocal crowd of fans at the Santos National Football Stadium muted as the hosts had managed a 14-12 lead at halftime only to concede five tries in the second 40 minutes of the Hostplus Cup round 6 fixture.
Coach Paul Aiton expressed his disappointment at his side’s inability to defend sets but added that three players had been injured during the course of the match and the side had finished the game with one player on the bench.
Regardless of that, the Dolphins were led astutely by halfback Joshua James and the playmaker showed his class with ball in hand as well as off his boot guiding the visitors to powerful finish.
James scored his side’s first try, set up another, kicked five from seven goals and added a late field goal from 35m out to seal a man-of-the match performance.
Jamie Mavoko’s return to the halves for the Hunters was dulled by the disinterested defensive effort from the side with SP Brewery-sponsored side currently saddled with the fifth worst defence in the league having conceded 145 points so far.
Aiton credited the quality of the second-placed Dolphins but insisted his side had not made things easy for themselves.
“Dolphins are quality side, they deserved the win and there is no excuse from us,” Aiton said.
“We defended the way we wanted to defend in the first half but in the second we let them score a number of tries.
“Look, we are a great team; we have quality players and we can win games like this but it’s the little things that can be fixed.
“I believe in this team, we can score points but we just have to fix our defence. At the half-time break, I was comfortable but they (Dolphins) marched up and scored those tries in the second-half, that hurt us.”
Mavoko, Whallan Tau-Loi and Joshua Lau scored tries for the Hunters in the first-half with Clent Lama only managing to convert one. PNG-born Steven Numambo and James scored for Dolphins as Hunters led by two point at the break.
Hunters looked like they were in the box seat when fullback Sanny Wabo broke the line to score under the uprights in the 48th minute as Hunters led 20-12.
However the momentum shifted and the Hunters were on the back foot for the rest of the contest when Dolphins captain and prop Max Bailey crashed over in the 53rd minute.
Bailey’s try opened the flood gates as the Redcliffe outfit piled on four more tries through Sheldon Pitama, Harrison Graham (2) and Latrell Siegwalt.
The Hunters face the third-placed Burleigh Bears away in their round 7 game on Saturday.