SP PNG Hunters have registered their first win in the 2021 Season by beating Ipswich Jets 44 points to 22 points yesterday at Bycroft Oval, Gold Coast Australia.
After trailing by 12 points at halftime, the Church-led side came back fiery with Prop Epel Kapinias scoring his second try in the 42nd minute putting hunters in the lead at 22 points to 18 points. Kapinias’s first was in the 23rd minute of the match.
Hunters extended their lead even further by scoring three tries through winger Brendon Gutuno (x2 tries in the 2nd half) and Edwin Ipape (x1 try in the 2nd half).
“We know that our preparation had been challenging so today (27.03.21) is a reward for the effort that our guys put in even when they were stuck in hotel rooms for a month,” Hunters coach Matthew Church said.
“I’m really happy for the players. They’ve worked really hard and they stuck to it today even when Ipswich got some early points. We had to find our groove and build pressure and, once we did that, we were able to put together some good back-to-back sets,” Added Church.
While it may seem the boys are off to a great start, Church said they are still room for improvement.
“We have to improve some of our attention to detail but that will happen as we keep working harder.”
The Hunters will not be playing for the next two weeks as the Intrust Super Cup pauses for the Easter weekend and will head North to take on the Mackay Cutters on April 10th.
SP PNG Hunters Try Scorers (Brendon Gutono 3, Epel Kapinias 2, Terry Wapi 1, Jokadi Bire 1, Edwin Ipape 1, Charlie Simon six goals).
