In a high-scoring contest of the Hostplus Cup round 18 clash on Sunday, July 14th, 2024, at Santos National Football Stadium, the SP PNG Hunters defeated the fast-finishing Central Queensland Capras with a 42-28 scoreline in front of the raucous Port Moresby-based fans.
During their round 2 encounter in Rockhampton (March 16th, 2024), the Capras smashed the Hunters with a decisive 38-18 victory. The hosts regrouped and beat the visitors, pulling off a redemption on home soil.
The game started on a disappointing note in the opening ten minutes, with both sides making silly ball-handling errors. The weather was fine to play footy, but the two teams’ ball security was very poor.
In the 13th minute, the Capras were in good field position to test the Hunters' defence. Capras’ lock forward Lachlan Hubner made a fake pass and ran through the gaping hole to score, putting the Capras in front of a 4-0 lead with an unconverted goal.
Eight minutes later, Jamie Mavoko intercepted the ball in Hunters’ 10-meter line and passed it to Alex Max, who raced 60 meters to put the Hunters in a good attacking position. Clent Lama rucked the ball quickly and passed it to Mavoko, who made a second-man play to Judah Rimbu and the livewire maestro dummied to score under the uprights. Mavoko nailed an effortless goal to give the Hunters a 6-4 lead.
It was all Hunters in the next 20 minutes. With a lion’s share of possession, the home side capitalized on it to punish the visitors, which saw five-eight Joshua Lau cross over the line in the 25th minute through a well-executed set play, bringing the lead to 12-4.
The Hunters did a sleek ball movement on their 20-meter red zone and found lethal center Alex Max, who raced past a couple of defenders and outdone the full back, leaving them in their wake to score an individual brillant try. Mavoko slotted the goal to extend the lead by 14 points (18-4).
With four minutes remaining before the break, the Capras orchestrated a nice second-man play to send South Sydney Rabbitohs’ former winger Robert Jennings over the line and reduced the deficit by 8 points (18-10) at half time.
The Hunters roared back to life in the opening three minutes of second half through full back Sanny Wabo, who zigzagged past a few defenders and offloaded the ball to Brandon Nima to score in the corner. Mavoko nailed the difficult conversion to extend the lead to 24-10 margin.
A few minutes later, the Central Queensland outfit responded through Tom Farr in the 48th minute, who received a short face pass from his five-eight to score an untouched try. With a successful conversion, the Capras trailed the Hunters by 8 points (24-16).
Unfazed by the Capras’ try, the Hunters went on an attacking raid to set up Joshua Lau who snatched his second try in the 55th minute from half-back Jamie Mavoko’s second-phase play. Mavoko sliced the goal to increase the lead to 30-16.
In the next 20 minutes, both teams had turns in scoring tries. Blake Moore scored in the 59th minute, followed by Valentine Richard’s bulldozing try in the 67th minute. Lau bagged his hat-trick in the 73rd minute and Moore crossed over for his second try in the 78th minute, leaving the full time score at 42-28.
While Joshua Lau had a field day with three tries, Jamie Mavoko was perfect with the boot, nailing seven successful conversions. The five-eight and half-back of the SP Brewery-sponsored team made their presence known, steering the Hunters to a top 6 finish.
The Paul Aiton-coached side have decent players in all departments, but there’s still room for improvement. With six more rounds to go before the regular season ends, the Hunters are on the cusp of breaking their seven-year final’s drought.
Meanwhile, the SP PNG Hunters will have a bye in round 19 and travel to Redcliffe on August 3rd to face off the fourth placed Dolphins in round 20 at Kayo Stadium.
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