Vipers bank on spine

COACH Leonard Tarum is backing his spine of fullback John Stanley, five-eighth Simon Arana, halfback Karis Peter and rake Matthew Wauwe to lead Port Moresby Vipers against Kimbe Cutters tomorrow (3.30pm kick-off).
He told The National last week that he would retain the same line-up that he had announced earlier in the month prior to the postponement of the season kick-off. Tarum said former Papua New Guinea Kumuls centre Thompson Teteh would succeed Ade Kawa as captain of the Moni Plus-sponsored side. The round-one fixture will be played at Port Moresby’s Oil Search National Football Stadium. “Not much changes have been done,” he said.  “In fact, we will stick with the same line-up. “We know that the Cutters have also had good, long pre-season.  “Despite the delays, the Cutters will be ready, so we will not take them lightly. “They (Cutters) have recruited well.”  He said the Cutters were a team to beat, so they would not be complacent. Tarum said they had lost Dilbert Isaac who had been recalled by the SP Hunters.  “We are happy for Isaac,”the coach said. “It’s good to see him recover from illness and resume his rugby league career. “It was a challenge for us to find a replacement for him, there were a couple of players in the squad who I was looking at.” Vipers: John Stanley, Frank Tole, Junior Kale, Shallom Bire, Ben Wemin, Simon Arana, Karis Peter, Fedro Gene, Matthew Wauwe, Benjamin Timothy, Ade Kawa, Aaron Kamba, Thompson Teteh; Interchange — Presley Soto, Peter Mondo, Iru Dikana, Bob Gore.