University Piggies win CRU crown

UNIVERSITY Piggies have claimed back-to-back championships in the Capital Rugby Union premier grade having defeated Brothers, 24-17 in a thrilling grand final at Bava Park on Saturday.
The Piggies showed great composure to come back from 17-10 down late in the second half to level the score at 17-all via a try to winger Arnold Lange.
Then in the final five minutes of the match fullback Dean Manale, pictured, clinched victory with a try as dove  over in the left corner to break the hearts of Brothers players and fans.
The final as expected was a tense encounter between two of Port Moresby rugby’s oldest rivals.
It was Brothers who dominated the first 20 minutes of the match as their forward pack made inroads into the Piggies half denying them any possession of the ball.
The first points of the match came via a drop goal from the 50 metre line by Eugene Tokavai in the fifth minute. As University continued to make infringements in the ruck, Brothers kicker Tisa Kautu made the opposition pay  converting two penalty kicks extending his team’s lead to 9-0 after 30 minutes.
As the first half drew to a close the Piggies forwards began to swing things in their favour, getting over the advantage line. Their backline marshalled by fly-half Kilory Lote began to find gaps in the Brothers defence.
This allowed veteran forward George Hoki to barge over for the Piggies first try converted by Lote. A penalty conversion by Lote gave University a 10-9 lead at half time.
In the second half Brothers began strongly with an unconverted try to Clint Kut and a penalty goal by Kautu, giving Brothers the lead 17-10 in the final twenty minutes.
But the Piggies being the champion team that they are did not panic as they patiently made progress up the middle of the field before sending it out wide for winger Arnold Lange to draw the score level. Then followed the match winning try to fullback Dean Manale which was converted via the boot of  Kilory Lote. It was his effort with the boot that earned the Piggies fly-half the man-of-the-match award.
Brothers assistant coach Metiro Kilory told The National “The teams played down to the wire, a few calls didn’t come our way”.
“From the coach’s point of view we just had to get our defensive line set to counter the Piggie’s attack. We still had faith that we would fight until the last minute.”
University coach Paul Joseph praised his players’ commitment and composure to see the game through right to the end.
“We just had to get stuck in and bring in our reserves who lifted the game. Our centres Stanis Susuve and Jayjay Garrison really stood out today, and we always knew we had the speed out wide.
“It was just a matter of the boys making the right decisions and taking their chances that lefted our momentum”.   Joseph said