Hunters fall to Seagulls 14 - 10

The SP Papua New Guinea Hunters suffered their second defeat on their home ground this season after the last placed Tweed Head Seagulls beat them 14 – 10 last night.  The defeat also ended the Hunters  seven game winning streak  in a row.

The Seagulls came with determination to bring down  the competition leaders on their home ground and they achieved that with solid defence and well structured attack.  Halfback  Burgess spun out of a tackle, kicked for himself and scored next to the posts to put his team ahead with 6 – 0 lead after the third minute of play.  The Hunters were bombarded with poor ball control  and could not complete their sets. The visitors took advantage of this and sent Damian Sironen  for their second try of the night  and brought their lead to 12 – 0 into half-time.

In the second half, after receiving hard words from coach Marum, the home side hit back with a try through Adex Wera and trailed 12 – 6 after a successful conversion from Eliab. A penalty  put the visitors to 14 – 6 lead  when the Hunters were caught off-side.  Hunters  Willie Minoga scored for the Hunters on the 70 minutes to reduce the margin to 14 – 10 as Eliab missed  the conversion.

The Hunters surged on but the Seagulls were just as determined with solid defence and shut out the Hunters attack and held on to  win the game 14 – 10 at full-time.