Tag

Fiji Bati

Browsing
Rugby League

PNG Kumuls are Pacific Championship Bowl Champions

By
Kumuls Win Final

The PNG Kumuls have done it, they are the Bowl Champions in the Pacific Championship.

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo was there to witness the triumph of the Kumuls. He along with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape watched closely as the Kumuls redeemed themselves of last weeks flogging.

Picture by NRL

The presence of CEO Andrew Abdo being here is a positive for PNG’s NRL Bid.

Picture by NRL

PNG Kumuls

Picture by NRL

PNG managed a 32 points to 12 Victory over the Fiji Bati side.

PNG managed five tries in total to redeem themselves of last weeks devastating loss to Fiji Bati.

Edwin Ipape was awarded the man of the match. He made a complete turn around from last weeks performance for the Kumuls.

Robert Derby the 21 year old Kumuls winger also grabbed a double, two tries as PNG leaped into the lead at 26-0 at halftime.

Fiji came back in the second half determined to score. They did score two tries but PNG managed to defend their try line for majority of the match with Epel Kapinias scoring the only try in the second half to close the score 32 points to 12.

Kumuls Coach Justin Holbrook was impressed with the turnaround from the Kumuls and it showed the passion from the side.

Picture by NRL

Big Dan Russell taking a hit up as Fiji Bati’s Kurt Donoghoe attempts the tackle.

“Obviously we did a good job early in the match. We turned them back and managed to score big in the first half. We conceded in the seconded half but we hung in there quite a bit in the second half and we managed to win,” Holbrook said

PNG Kumuls Captain Kyle Laybutt raises the Pacific Championship Bowl as PNG Prime Minister James Marape looks on.
(Picture by NRL)

The Captain of the Kumuls, Kyle Laybutt, was also impressed with the team.

“Extremely happy for the boys we turned it around from last week to this week a massive improvement,” Kyle Laybutt said.

Keep Reading
By
Rugby League

Putt, Horne and Rop Back Against Fiji Bati

By
Kumuls Final

PNG Kumuls Coach Justin Holbrook has picked his strongest side to take on the Fiji Bati in the Pacific Championship Bowl final.

Holbrook is looking for aggression and versatility off the bench. Opting to bring back Nixon Putt, Liam Horne and Junior Rop back into the side.

“Junior Rop is strong and aggressive, Nixon Putt has a tireless work rate and Liam Horne has the versatility. And he can gain meters up the ruck and is also great at lock,” Holbrook said

Holbrook said he wasn’t at all disappointed with individuals in the team. But these three deserved their spot in the final side.

“I wanted to give everyone a game. Especially to the guys that came down from England. I have been impressed by Nixon Putt, Junior Rop and Liam Horne. [I} wasn’t really unhappy with any individual performance, I was just unhappy with how collectively the team played. But these players, they deserve a call up. They were pretty good in the games they played in,” Holbrook said.

PNG Kumuls Coach Justin Holbrook admitted that the team needs to discipline themselves in defense. One area of concern was PNG allowing Fiji to pick up speed off the ruck.

Edwin Ipape was poised to be a game changer for the Kumuls but it turned out to be quite different. The Coach said Ipape needed to familiarize himself with conditions and hopes this week he can make a difference.

“Edwin needed a run to be honest. He didn’t play for a month and he was on the other side of the world in different conditions, and Fiji didn’t give us any real opportunity.

“We have had a look at the video. And we have a number of areas we have to work on and improve on them and execute them this weekend,” Holbrook said.

Keep Reading
By
Rugby League

Fiji Bati Anticipating a Forwards Battle

By
Fiji Bati

Fiji Boasts a star studded NRL backline and a forward pack that devastated the Cook Islands last week. The Batis blooded 9 players in the team against the Cooks and Coach Waisake Kativerata says they are not here to make the numbers but to score points.

Fiji Bati captain Tui Kamikamica says to win they need to put pressure on the PNG forwards and use offloads to create scoring opportunities.

Fiji’s backline of Maika Sivo, Mikaele Ravalawa, Sunia Turuva, Waqa Blake and Jahream Bula last week combined a total run meters of 869 meters amongst themselves and a total of 19 tackle breaks.

Considering the Cook Islanders were short of few players down with injury, the Fijians young forward pack managed to out muscle the Cooks up the middle.

In the end Fiji Bati were left with minor bruises while the Cooks were winded by the Fijians.

Fiji Bati were slow to gel as a team, with the coach attributing to the fact that the team was only in camp for a week. But the team did manage to pick up in the second half. It was 6-4 in favor of Cook Islands at half time, but it was Fiji who pulled together in the second half and with five minutes on the clock.

Panthers premiership winning winger Sunia Turuva scored the match winner to snatch the win 22-18.

Fiji Coach Waisake Kativerata said that it’s a privilege to make his coaching debut in PNG where the crowds are mad rugby league supporters. He praised the fans for knowing the players well and he added the support was immense for the Fiji players.

But he knows PNG has a strong support at home and they always lift the team to go above and beyond and that goes for the teams forward pack as well. Kativerata commended PNG for having depth up the middle.

“PNG has a good power play up the middle. If we can control the ruck properly it will be to our advantage. We have a lot of Fijian supporters in PNG. They know Sivo and the other NRL players.
“It’s a young team, and this game will help us a lot we are not here to make up the numbers we can score points to win,” Kativerata said.

It’s no secret that PNG have a strong defense and Captain Tui Kamikamica is no stranger to the Kumuls defense and knows the only way to win is to control the game at the rucks and up the middle.

“We just need to be physical in the ruck, we get a bit of momentum in the middle we can lead to offloads, it’s a learning curve. A lot of young guys playing in the team. We need to learn from our mistakes and to play with PNG we have to be physical,” Kamikamica said.

Keep Reading
By
Pin It