Hunters clinch second win with a superb defensive effort
The SP PNG Hunters have claimed their second win of the 2024 QRL Hostplus Cup season, putting away the Sunshine Coast Falcons 22-10 with an emphatic defensive display on Saturday.
The Hunters delivered four well-constructed tries with an impressive defensive effort that had the crowd on their feet in round 3.
Despite spending long periods of the game on their own try line, the Paul Aiton-coached side’s defence simply refused to give their opposition cheap avenues to the in-goal, restricting an experienced Falcons attack to just 10 points.
PNG Hunters head coach Paul Aiton commended the work his players did off the ball and the resilience they showed throughout the contest.
“I thought we defended our line well at different stages,” said Aiton.
“We stuck to our systems and scrambled well when we had to. The players are working really hard for each other and I think that showed in our intent off the ball today.”
With halfback Jamie Mavoko and fullback Morea Morea still working their way back to full fitness, Joshua Lau and Sanny Wabo continued to impress in their elevated roles. The new combination in the spine in the likes of star five-eighth Sakias Komati had some positive involvements down the Hunters strike left edge.
Komati’s ability to engage the defence with a lead runner before throwing out the back is what created the space for Brandon Nima to open the scoring.
Hunters rookie centre Clent Lama has been enjoying a fast-start to life in the Hostplus Cup and is relishing the experience of Nima on his outside. The pair have struck up a likely combination to kick off the season and were quickly involved in the Hunters second try.
Another debutant of the 2024 QRL season – Hunters backrower Robert Mathias – was the catalyst on this occasion, taking possession down the left edge in yardage and burning the Falcons defence with an impressive show of speed.
The dynamic edge forward made his own luck from there, getting a miracle offload away to Nima to streak down the touchline.
The veteran winger still had plenty of work to do in the backfield, showing his class to draw in both the fullback and the cover defence before releasing a beautiful pass back inside for his centre to score.
As they’ve made a habit of doing already this year, the Hunters went back on the attack right from the kickoff.
With some momentum generated through the middle to begin the kickoff set, PNG quickly swung it left through Komati. With his trademark show-and-go, Komati fooled the defence to get his arm free, found Mathias in support with a lovely short ball.
The barnstorming backrower again showed off his speed to burn the fullback and complete a length of the field effort from the home side.
A barge-over try to veteran PNG forward Valentine Richard in the 78th minute put to bed any hopes of a late Falcons comeback as the Sunshine Coast defence crumbled around the ruck.
The Hunters ultimately did what the visitors could not; turning field position and pressure into points to secure a brave 22-10 win.