Schoolboys impressive
The National, Tuesday June 25th, 2013
THE PNG Rugby League Foundation Under-16 and U18 schoolboys started their tour in Brisbane with matches against Wavell State High U16 and St Brendan’s Club U18 respectively.
The U16s kicked off their tour with a strong performance despite losing their first game to Wavell State High 16-22 last Thursday.
Wavell fielded a big forward pack but the U16s defended bravely and played well above their weight.
Despite the score line, PNG put on an impressive performance and finished strongly.
They managed to get points on the board with a hat-trick by Anderson Benford but the gutsy U16s ran out of time in the end.
PNG Rugby League development manager, Arnold Krewanty, was impressed and commented about the toughness of the boys: “This is the first time our boys have played together.
“They may have lost but they played extremely well and finished off the game strongly. To only lose by six points against a quality side like Wavell State High is exceptional. They can only get better from here.”
The U18s started their campaign with a stellar performance against St. Brendan’s with a 64-12 win.
PNG wasted no time getting down to business with a try to Watson Repo in the 3rd minute of the game with Josiah Jimmy’s conversion kick adding the extras to 6-0.
From then on, the U18s never looked back and started piling on the points that saw them lead at halftime 26-6.
In the second half, PNG continued from where they left off scoring another 38 points through tries from Gahuna Silas, Ereman Ken, Warren Glare, Eliakim Lukara and Watson with John Ragi Junior scoring two off the bench.
The final nail in the coffin came from giant winger Wellington Albert who went over on the stroke of fulltime.