Simbu Warriors eye misfiring Lae Tigers

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The National, Friday, May 20, 2011

By ZACHERY PER
IT will be a must-win for Kongo Coffee Simbu Warriors when they host Lae Snax Tigers in Kundiawa on Sunday in the Digicel Cup’s third round.
The Lae franchise have fallen to old habits with inconsistent preformances in their first two matches.
After pushing Mendi Muruks all the way in the opening round they capitulated to Toyota Enga Mioks last week.
Botched try-scoring chances, missed conversions, handling errors and wrong options have combined to keep the Tigers from being a real threat so far this season.
Both games showed what the Tigers are capable of but also exposed a lack of control and match-winning ability.
For the Warriors  a tough 4-4 draw at home in round one was followed up with another stalemate in Port Moresby last round against new franchise Gulf Isapeas.
“We drew in our last two matches and the Tigers lost in their last two.
“They’re desperate for a win and will be coming hard we’re hard to beat at home,” Warriors franchise owner Jerry Kapka said.
Tigers team manager Justus Rapula agreed their away match against  Warriors in Kundiawa is a must win situation for them.
Rapula said that running last after two rounds of matches competition was inexcusable after  after a great build up in the preseason.
“It’s a must win situation for us because we lost two games we could have easily won and that’s disappointing.
“We have 16 games to go and we hope the boys turn it around this weekend in Kundiawa,” Rapula said.
Tigers will bank on Sydney Fred, ageless Lawrence Goive, former Warriors campaigner Tiger Emere and talented centre Mark Mexico to steer the side to their first win.
The likely Warriors line up to take on Tigers at the Kundiawa’s Dixon rugby league ground: Joel Ambrose, Jerry Mongi, David Jones, Sonny Daing, Bal Bako, Francis Paniu, Lomax Numapo, Paulus Mondo, Andrew Baine, Kevin Jonah, Otto Sam,    Sigfred Gande (c) and Andrew Sipil. 
Oliver Anton, Philip Uvovo, Kupsy Baikuru and Supa Takai start off the bench.