Vipers shaken by Helas

 By JOHN PANGKATANA

STOP N Shop Port Moresby Vipers found the going tough but managed to hold out a rampaging Kemele Hela Wigmen in their Digicel Cup opener at the Lloyd Robson Oval yesterday.

The new-look Vipers were kept honest in their grinding 28-18 win.

The Vipers sporting a powerful look this season with a host of quality buys were given a huge wake-up call by a spirited ‘no-name’ Wigmen outfit.  The Wigmen came within a whisker of causing a major upset when they had the Vipers to the wall at 22-18, but the Vipers managed to slip away with a late try to Kumul prospect Larson Marabe. 

The Vipers ill-discipline, drop-balls and three certain tries to Charlie Wabo, Josiah Abavu and Richard Kambo gone begging in the first-half nearly came back to haunt them.

Coach Shane Morris said they faltered when they allowed the Wigmen to dictate terms but was pleased that his charges measured up well to hit back when it really mattered.

“We hung in there and did the little things right in defence and yes, a good start to set up a good platform for the season,” Morris added.

Morris said it was the first major hit-out for this newly stitched team, and was confident they would only get better. 

The Wigmen returning back to the scene with a host of home-grown talent, minus experienced campaigners Joseph Omae showed a lot of promise with their spurring performance against a quality Vipers line-up.