National Football Stadium

The team trained well, in stifling conditions mid-morning, and the training session was followed by a coaching clinic with almost 400 school children from local schools in Port Moresby.

On the match report, the Falcons will travel without some of their best players, including Eddie Tautali, Curtis Scott, Richard Kennar, Mark Nicholls and Joe Stimson. They haven’t been named in the Falcons side to take on PNG, with their finals spot cemented.

This will be an advantage to the home side, moreover, taking advantage of PNG’s all-time rowdy crowd to claim victory.

The Hunters are unbeaten at home this season and will have no problem getting past a weakened Falcons side, which could be focusing on the same match-up in the finals in a week’s time.

The Hunters sealed an 18-16 win in the last three minutes of the match in what was a thriller at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby.

“We threw everything at PNG. They’re a very physical team and to their credit, they defended really well,” said Walker.

Captain of the Jets, Dane Phillips, added on that his team had enough chances but failed to get the job done.

“If you’re giving PNG too much ball, they’re going to score points. We just didn’t get over the line.

The Hunters took a 30-0 lead at the break but only managed two tries in the second to win the home game at the National Football Stadium.

The Hunters opened the scoring in the second half through a set play that saw fullback Bland Abavu score.

The Tigers muscled up in defence, determined not to leak any more points.

This allowed them to dominate possession midway through the game.

It took over an hour but the Tigers were finally rewarded with a try in the 62nd minute when Dane Chang crashed over on the wing.