Orchids shine bright despite late Moana comeback

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Papua New Guinea (W) v Cook Islands (W)

Papua New Guinea has survived a late comeback to secure victory by 28-20 over the Cook Islands in the women's international in Port Moresby this afternoon.

The Orchids were keen to put on a show in front of their home crowd and came out strong in defence, hitting the Moana with everything in the opening exchanges. This was brought to a crashing halt in the ninth minute of player. Hooker Roswita Kapo crossed after some sustained possession brought on by penalties and mistakes by the opposition. Following a crashing run, Kapo exposed the lack of markers to cross for the opening try for PNG. Emily Veivers converted for a 6-0 lead.

Five minutes later, the Moana created opportunities when Jazmon Tupou Witchman broke down field and got a fresh set to work with. A clever dart from dummy half from Chelsea Makira sees her crash over and the scores were level thanks to the conversion from Chantay Kiria-Ratu.

From the short kick-off recovery. The Orchids camped down the Moana's end and Essay Banu's effort was rewarded, crashing over the top of several defenders to cross and regather a six point lead for the Orchids. The weight of possession against the Moana took it's toll and another try was added to the tally. A clever grubber kick there from Ua Ravu took a ricochet and it was collected up by Lyiannah Allan who flew onto the football to cross for the Orchids.

A bad decision to let the kickoff bounce presented the Moana with rare field position and they quickly capitalised. A clever play down the right-hand side from the Moana saw them hit back, Lydia Turua-Quedley ran out of acting half to find a wide open Mahinaarangi Rewi to cross for the Moana. Just before the break, the Orchids hit back. It came off a strong run from Belinda Gwasamun who found an offload to Meli Joe. From the ensuing play, Kerowa crashed over for a try in the shadows of half-time. Veivers doinked the upright and it was a 20-10 lead at the change of ends.

The second half began the way the first ended with the Cook Islands making mistakes. The Orchids continued the significant weight of possession underlining the first half of play. A clever short ball from Ua Ravu found Latoniya Norris to crash over for the try. Veivers doinked the upright for the second straight conversion and it was 24-10. From yet another mistake, Belinda Gwasamun found her outside woman and Allan crashed over for her second try and it was becoming quite lopsided on the scoreboard, Veivers however continued her luck with a third hit of the uprights.

Cook Islands enjoyed some rare field position and capitalised with their third try of the afternoon. Kiana Takairangi split the defence wide open down the left hand side and crossed to score for the Moana. Takairangi came alive in the last 5 minutes after a quiet opening hour. She created some second-phase play linking up with Chantelle Holloway-Samuels who showed brute strength to crash over for the try. Despite the last ditch efforts, the final play fell short and the Orchids escaped with a 28-20 verdict at home.