Vipers fight off Isou

The National Sports

By PARKER TAMBUA
PORT Moresby Vipers survived a scare from Gulf Isou as they came from behind to win 16-14 in round nine of the Digicel Cup at the Oil Search National Football Stadium yesterday.
Rated as underdogs leading up to the match, Isou stunned the giant-slaying Vipers as they led 10-0 at halftime.
The Moni Plus-sponsored Vipers were desperate for a big second-half performance and it took a double by former SP Hunter Shane Nigel and a McDonald Alowale try to complete the comeback.
Nigel was named as the man of the match.
Isou coach Bagelo Solien was proud of his team’s performance despite the loss.
“We came into this game aiming for a strong contest and we did that,” he said.
“But I think we were hard done by in a few refereeing calls which went against us.
“In saying that, we also had a fair opportunity to bag more points and claim the win, but we didn’t.
“That’s rugby league, sometimes things don’t turn out as you’d want.”
Isou went into the match all fired up with their forwards Eric Batia, Maino Gairo and Emanuel Parua making big runs and laying the platform for their attack.
They scored first in the 24th minute through former SP Hunter Gairo Kapana who made a line break and ran 70m before scoring in the corner two plays later. Winger Gebbie Taune missed all his conversions.
Isou scored their second try a minute later whe then Vipers went for a short restart which backfired as Isou hooker Samson Pirika picked up a loose ball and kicked for Junior Aukele who scored beside the uprights.
Pirika kicked a two-point field goal on the stroke of halftime to extend Isou’s lead.
The Vipers came back hard in the second half. The Joe Sipa-coached side scored their first try through Alowale.
Yunny Patrick’s conversion saw them trail 6-10. A few minutes later, Nigel scored in the corner and Patrick’s conversion gave them a 12-10 lead.
“Nigel completed his double six minutes from fulltime, but Patrick failed to convert the extras.
Isou scored a consolation try right on fulltime through Samson Pirika in the corner as the Vipers held on for their fourth-straight win.
Results: Sun, Aug 1 — Wigmen 22 Cutters 14, Tigers 22 Mioks 14, Vipers 16 Isou 14, Tumbe 34 Dabaris 16, Eagles 16 Lahanis 16, Muruks 20 Gurias 8.