Vipers to face Dabaris

THE Port Moresby Vipers and Central Dabaris will lock horns in the capital derby at 4pm on Sunday as the National Football Stadium plays host to a triple-header Digicel ExxonMobil Cup round three fixtures.
In the lead-up matches, Hela Wigmen face Gulf Isou (12pm kick-off) while Mt Hagen Eagles take on Rabaul Gurias (2pm kick-off).
The Vipers and Mendi Muruks are the only two teams that have won two of their opening round matches this the season.
Vipers coach Charlie Wabo said last week that he wanted more improvement from his men despite the consecutive wins so far.
However, it certainly won’t be a walk-in-the-park for the Vipers as Dabaris are coming off a big performance against one of the competition’s heavyweights, Gurias, last week.
Dabaris drew with the Agmark-sponsored side 12-12 and lost to Waghi Tumbe by only two points in Minj in round 1.
Wabo warned his Vipers players to improve or they would be dropped as there were enough players in reserve grade.
Meanhile, Dabaris coach Steven Gunua said his men had put on some solid defence in round one and two but he would demand more from his players in attack.
“Our defence was good against Tumbe and we only lost by few points, in the game against Gurias we were solid in defence and I was impressed but it’s our attack that we need to improve on,” Gunua said.
“The main area we will be focusing on is handling errors. We made a lot of errors against Gurias that’s why we defended a lot and we didn’t get enough opportunity in attack. But we want to change that for round three.”
Dabaris will rely on Nicky Hasu and Lote Kuman who will be in the halves while utility and current Hunters reserve player Gairo Voro will come off the bench.
Vipers halves Joel Gena and Charlie Simon were outstanding last week and would be looking to maintain their form.