Posted By Staff Reporter
THE Goroka Lahanis have snared the first Digicel Cup rugby league grand final spot. That follows the Eastern Highlands franchise’s dramatic 15-14 win over reigning champions, the Rabaul Gurias before a boisterous home crowd at the National Sports Institute in Goroka on Sunday. An estimated 3,000-strong crowd went into a frenzy as Bena product and rookie halfback Robin Soga landed a field goal to break the 14-14 deadlock in the final 10 minutes of the major semi-final. The Lahanis will now standby for the 2013 Digicel Cup decider on September 8. They play the winner of this Sunday’s preliminary final between the Gurias and the Port Moresby Vipers. The Vipers beat the Enga Mioks 28-16 in the knock-out clash at Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby. The win by the Lahanis continues their mercurial rise to prominence this season after they were written off following the departure of senior players and coaches. An overwhelmed Lahanis franchise owner Simon Sia described the win as courageous against a quality side in the Gurias. The Lahanis will have some work to do before that as the Gurias had them on the ropes on several occasions. The Lahanis led 6-0 from a try to prop Gonzella Urakusie, but it was the East New Britain franchise that took the helm in a 30-minute spell to throw caution to the wind of an unexpected party pooper to half-time. It was poetry in motion as the visitors silenced the crowd with successive tries to potential Kumul centre prospect Francis Paniu and half-back Ase Boas. Paniu was at his attacking best as he has done all season down that left corridor to slice through his opposite John Arame-Gand for their opening try. Then when his partner in crime Jackie Marcus on the right-side did the same before finding Boas supporting on the inside for their second four pointer, the pendulum had changed dramatically. Goroka home-boy Danny Patrick, playing for the Gurias at lock, and prop Travis Waninara complimented their backs with decisive line-breaks. The Lahanis re-established their authority with their physical presence with inter-change forward George Abba jolting Marcus in a huge tackle and then Gand stopped fullback Boas Ruru to snuff out more tries from the Gurias menacing backsa. The second-half saw the Lahanis firebrand lock Bernard Tatsim Jnr break the shackles and then Minaho Goso followed that up with another after some damaging runs by the bench players in Spiro Mikaive, Micah Siboni and Abba. The Lahanis, leading 14-10, were soon short-lived when a Marcus break down the right-flank saw Boas fly through for his second try to level the scores. That’s when Soga kicked the match winner to seal the win. Gurias coach Michael Marum would not comment on the loss but did say they were looking forward to a positive performance this weekend to set up another meet with the Lahanis in Port Moresby. Comments are closed.
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