Pukpuks continue winning run

By ROBINSON LEKA
THE Papua New Guinea Pukpuks maintained their perfect record with a 29-10 win over Niue in the second round of the Oceania Rugby Cup in Port Moresby yesterday.
Captain Luke Gibbs and the Niue forward pack put PNG on the back foot, damaging the ruck area for the hosts.
Niue’s intensity in defence caused problems for PNG and 20 minutes in, Pukpuks’ Tisa Kautu was carried off the field with a torn medial collateral ligament.
The Pukpuks responded to Niue’s physical approach with speed and precision in their set pieces with Kautu’s replacement Emil Latumahina crossing over for an unconverted try on the left edge.
Niue took a penalty conversion to cut the Pukpuks’ lead to 5-3 heading into the break.
The second half saw a more relaxed Pukpuks side outclass Niue with Latumahina bagging his second. Wesley Vali also bagged a double and veteran Monty Diave finished with a try.
Fatigue took its toll on Niue after a physical encounter with Randy Freddie scoring his team’s only try of the second half.
“I’m happy that we had the opportunity to play a technical side,” Pukpuks coach Billy Rapilla said.
“It was a bit hard for us at the start. But in the second half, our players knew what we had to do and they executed well.”