Gerehu natives win 10s Tourney with extra time penalty

The Sydney Wesley Rhinos 10s Cup concluded yesterday with the Gerehu Natives walking away with the Cup following their 3-0 victory over the Newtown Chiefs.

An extra time penalty conversion by Gerehu Natives Roger Emmanuel got them home over the Jonah Kautu-coached Newtown Chiefs after a hard-fought scoreless contest throughout the 20 minutes of regulation time.

The first stanza was a ruck battle with scrum after scrum- equal field and ball possession -and outstanding defense as both sides remained scoreless at halftime.

Running into the second half, both sides began to throw the ball a lot but eventually managed to match each other's offense in defence.

The Chiefs looked dangerous in attack with speedsters Bartholomew Evi, Cyril Seiba, and Junior Hoki but they were repeatedly denied by a resilient Gerehu defence.

The deadlock was finally broken in extra time when the Gerehu Natives were awarded a penalty -the Bava Park stands erupted with joy- which continued after Roger Emmanuel sinked the ball between the sticks.

Gerehu Natives walked away with the cup and a cash prize of K20,000, while Newtown Chiefs collected K10,000 as runners-up.

In the Plate finals, the North Dingos were too strong for the Lasallians with a dominant 22-5 victory while the Ratnik Warriors defeated the Ringers to claim the Bowl.