Preparations underway at match venue

THE renovations at the Lloyd Robson Oval for Sunday’s PNG and Australia Prime Ministers Challenge will be completed by then.
And PNGRFL caretaker administrator Ivan Ravu has given it the thumbs up.
“Preparations are going really well, the boys are working hard on the
playing surface.
“It is this time of the year where it gets really hard (ground surface), but we don’t want to make it too soft, to the visiting Australians advantage,” Ravu jokingly said.
Work that started immediately after the Digicel Cup grand final besides daily watering and patch work on the playing surface, were the reinforcement of the stands, corporate boxes and VIP area, reserve bench upgrade and general painting.
“We believe it is, and will be up to standard to host a match as big as this,” Ravu said.
“We’ve also taken into consideration, visitors from Australia and other overseas countries.
“Important people in rugby league from around the world will come, so we want to make sure we make an impression,”
Young Achievers, an Under-16 side from the state of New South Wales, Australia will also be travelling into the country to play one of the curtain raisers before the main event on Sunday.
The young team will play an Under 16 side from the Hanuabada Rugby League competition which is yet to be finalized.
Papua New Guinea Women’s Rugby Football League has also shown interest to play a curtain raiser.
Their interest was the opportunity to have a side from the East New Britain Rugby League play a combined side from around the country; however Ravu admitted that funding for both teams travelling into Port Moresby was a huge hurdle.
He could not confirm the women’s match as curtain raiser yet, but maintained that an alternative match will be played.