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Aaron Woods: Image: weststigers.com.au Wests Tigers prop Aaron Woods has written a blog on his incredible experience playing rugby league in Papua New Guinea. In the final chapter of the two part series, ‘Woodsy’ talks about his incredible game day experience. Game Day My game day preparation on this trip is one I will always remember. Following a relaxing morning at our hotel, we headed to our team room for lunch. It also doubled up as our dressing room. We had to get strapped up and dressed in our playing gear before heading to the ground. It certainly was different travelling on our team mini van dressed in our jerseys but we took it all in our stride. The streets around Port Moresby were fairly deserted as it seemed everyone was at the ground. We were told that by 10am, the ground was already at 60 per cent capacity. When we pulled into the street leading into Lloyd Robson Oval, there were thousands of people there to
greet us. The excitement on their faces was priceless. They were all cheering for the boys. Like I said in my first blog, they just want to get up close to the boys. There was a heavy security presence e but again we felt safe. There was a huge roar when we walked onto the field. Every advantage spot was taken, there were people sitting on top of the stands, on the scoreboard and even in the trees. The ground holds 10,000 but we were told there were 16,000 people there. It was just a sea of colour. Following our warm up, we lined up to meet the PNG Prime Minister. He looked cool in his Hawaiian shirt. It was then time for the Australian anthem. I stood proudly wearing the green and gold and thought of my family. Then it was game on under Australian referee Phil Haines who travelled with us. The Kumuls came out firing and we were under the pump for the first 10 minutes. Our defence was on. Once the dust settled, we scored three first half tries to Feleti Mateo, Michael Jennings and Beau Ryan (who did his Doggies act to the roar of the crowd). Our captain and half-back Scott Prince converted all three tries for an 18-4 lead at half-time. The Kumuls dominated the second half and fought back really well to lock the scores up at 18-all with 7 minutes remaining. The locals went crazy. It was unbelievable scenes. Fortunately for us, a crossfield kick on the last tackle by our five-eighth Lachlan Coote saw winger Akuila Uate score in the final minute. Princey converted the try for a 24-18 win. It was a tremendous effort by the Kumuls. They certainly made us work hard for the win. Following the match, we were swamped by security guards and people. The sidelines were packed during the game. Some of the boys managed to receive a few gifts from the locals while many of the fans were trying to jump the fences to get close to us. It was then straight on to the bus and what followed was amazing. Our bus driver did his very best as the locals jumped in front of the bus and were banging on the sides. It was chaos but the security guys did well. Again, we felt safe. They were just so excited and for us players, so were we in between a few anxious moments. Upon arriving at our hotel, we recovered in the pool and following a few photos with the boys, it was time to relax and celebrate with the boys at the poolside bar. We returned home on Monday. To sum it up, this was an incredible experience and one I will never forget. Seeing the people of Port Moresby and the conditions of this third world country truly makes you appreciate what you have. This certainly was a trip of a lifetime. I’d be honoured to go there again. Source: weststigers.com.au Comments are closed.
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