 |
| Garry Lo scoring his try at the Oil Search National Football Stadium |
BY FIDELIS SUKINA
GARRY Lo made a birthday wish and it came through, with a try in the Papua New Guinea LNG Kumuls gutsy win against a tough Irish Wolfhounds 14-6 at the Oil Search Football Stadium in Port Moresby yesterday.
The win in this Pool C match of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup has all but secured the Kumuls place in the World Cup quaterfinals.
It was an error-riddled match but the atmosphere was allure with chants of “Garry Garry” filling the stadium with ecstasy when he was in his usual barnstorming self.
Lo, who turned 24 on November 1 wanted to celebrate with a try and led the surge against the Irish, according to Fox Sports Match center Lo raked in 153 metres off 16 runs and had eight line breaks; Lo took it upon himself to be there and had more runs than any forward or player on the day.
Among the chart toppers Justin Olam made 166 metres and Kato Ottio made 148 metres in a crowd arousing performance by the trio.
But it wasn’t all positive as the match started on a low and bumped its way through to a maximum high right towards the end.
Stanton Albert was left lost in the first five minutes of the match when he fumbled a high kick to give Michael Mc Ilorum an easy try, with captain Liam Finn pushing the conversion through for a 6-0.
But that got the crowd all worked up and urged the Kumuls to a strong counter, Finn and Mc Ilorum organised a fired-up Ireland but PNG stood the home ground, ganging up on their bigger opponents, the winger Liam Kay was a key target in PNG’s offensive and in that small surge forward they even closed in on Garry Lo.
They managed to hold PNG in their own 50 metre line, with deep kicks by Mc Ilorum allowing forwards in Kyle Amore and Brad Singleton to counter the PNG players.
That all changed when powerhouse Nene McDonald took on the line and shrugging off the defence to score the first try with Rhyse Martin failed to convert to trail 6-4.
Lo then ran straight into the Irish defensive line fending off George King and Ed Chamberlain to score a ripper of a try, but Martin again misse the conversion to lead 8-6 into half time.
The second half was a scrappy affair with both teams dropping the ball and limiting their opportunities.
Ireland looked fatigued in the process, with PNG hitting the Wolfhounds hard and turning over possession on almost all their sets.
The scores lined up at 8-6 for 38 minutes of the second half with the home crowd in suspense before a toe poke and chase by Watson Boas in the 68th minute led to the match winner, with Ase Boas slotting in the two points for a 14-6 win.
It was an error-riddled match but the atmosphere was allure with chants of “Garry Garry” filling the stadium with ecstasy when he was in his usual barnstorming self.
Lo, who turned 24 on November 1 wanted to celebrate with a try and led the surge against the Irish, according to Fox Sports Match center Lo raked in 153 metres off 16 runs and had eight line breaks; Lo took it upon himself to be there and had more runs than any forward or player on the day.
Among the chart toppers Justin Olam made 166 metres and Kato Ottio made 148 metres in a crowd arousing performance by the trio.
But it wasn’t all positive as the match started on a low and bumped its way through to a maximum high right towards the end.
Stanton Albert was left lost in the first five minutes of the match when he fumbled a high kick to give Michael Mc Ilorum an easy try, with captain Liam Finn pushing the conversion through for a 6-0.
But that got the crowd all worked up and urged the Kumuls to a strong counter, Finn and Mc Ilorum organised a fired-up Ireland but PNG stood the home ground, ganging up on their bigger opponents, the winger Liam Kay was a key target in PNG’s offensive and in that small surge forward they even closed in on Garry Lo.
They managed to hold PNG in their own 50 metre line, with deep kicks by Mc Ilorum allowing forwards in Kyle Amore and Brad Singleton to counter the PNG players.
That all changed when powerhouse Nene McDonald took on the line and shrugging off the defence to score the first try with Rhyse Martin failed to convert to trail 6-4.
Lo then ran straight into the Irish defensive line fending off George King and Ed Chamberlain to score a ripper of a try, but Martin again misse the conversion to lead 8-6 into half time.
The second half was a scrappy affair with both teams dropping the ball and limiting their opportunities.
Ireland looked fatigued in the process, with PNG hitting the Wolfhounds hard and turning over possession on almost all their sets.
The scores lined up at 8-6 for 38 minutes of the second half with the home crowd in suspense before a toe poke and chase by Watson Boas in the 68th minute led to the match winner, with Ase Boas slotting in the two points for a 14-6 win.
No comments:
Post a Comment