Two down, two to go
The National, Thursday September 3rd, 2015
by JACK AMI in Lae
NORTHERN Zone bagged its second title at the National Zone Championships when it won the Under-18 title after beating Highlands Zone 12-10 at the Lae Rugby League Ground yesterday.
On Tuesday, Northern won the U16 title beating Highlands 18-12 in their third match.
The scores were level 6-6 at halftime in a match which was evenly contested and there for the taking but it was Northern who took their chance to go ahead mid-way through the second stanza for a 12-6 lead.
With 10 minutes remaining, Highlands five-eighth Edwin Evape stepped his way through the defence and then motored down the sideline to score.
He got his team back in the game but the conversion was unsuccessful and the Northerners closed out the match to give their confederation the first two titles of the zone championships.
The match was characterised by some great front on in the forward battles as well as good reads in both backlines.
Northern captain Nicky Kili attributed the win to their commitment and said they achieved what they had prepared for.
The hosts ended their championship unbeaten with three wins, edging former champions Southern 9-8 and keeping New Guinea Islands scoreless 28-0.
The Southerners claimed that they were robbed of the title after a contentious penalty giving the Momase side the chance to steal a 9-8 win after trailing 8-7 with minutes remaining.
Tournament director Toksy Nema said the official score still stands as the referee’s decision is final.
“We cannot change the ruling and the decision of the referee is final whether he has made an error or not, the scoreline stands the same.”
Southern and Highlands were tied on three points each but the former secured the second spot on better percentage.
Southern drew with Highlands 8-8 and thrashed NGI 24-8.
Highlands thumped NGI 26-4.
The NGI team was represented by various primary schools in Kokopo under the age of 16 and were beaten by their much older opponents but it was an excellent experience for them to develop the sport in East New Britain.
The women’s matches kick of today at 9am and will involve defending champions Southern, Northen and Highlands zones.