PNG Pepes take out Ireland
Faced with the prospect of their worst finish at this tournament after losing their first three games, the Pepes came out firing against the Irish and according to coach Unaisi Rokoura, her side finally executed the game plan to perfection against the 27th ranked nation.
“It’s really good to have a win. The players responded in the best way after our loss to Malaysia. We went away yesterday (Tuesday) and had a heart to heart talk with the girls and ironed out a few issues and knew we had to come out strong in this match,” Rokoura said.
“They stepped up to the mark in this game.”
PNG lead every quarter beginning with a 14-8 score line in the opening stanza and maintained the margin to finish off strongly in the final quarter, hitting 18 goals to Ireland’s 5 to complete a 21-point win and keep alive their hopes of salvaging a third-place playoff.
In the opening game, Botswana beat Malaysia 51-36.
“We executed our game plan and that was what won it for us.
“We were consistent throughout — from the first quarter to the last — and we maintained our intensity and communicated well,” Rokoura said.
The win is Rokoura’s first in charge and the former Fijian international and Black Pearls coach was happy with finally notching one for the win column but said the team would need to continue their progress to meet its other goals.
“I think the credit should go to the players and the Lord.
“We trained hard for this tournament and to get a win is always good.
“It was a great team effort.
“We improved tremendously and showed what can be achieved if we understand the game plan and play to it,” she said.
“But we still have to do more if we want to be competitive and beat the better teams.
“Even though we committed fewer errors, we still have to eliminate these basic mistakes from our game in order to win games and rise in the rankings.
“Basic errors like over stepping, off-sides and giving away penalties do not work in our favour.
“Once we fix those areas we can start to test the higher ranked teams.”
PNG play 16th ranked Botswana tomorrow in their final match before the place playoffs on Saturday.
“Botswana are an aerial side.
“They compete well for the high balls.
“The Africans play a physical man-to-man defence and they will stay on you so we have to counter that as well,” Rokoura said
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