The clash of the titans between two rivals, Brothers and Piggies, who share a long history of playing footy against each other to battle for the pride of the Aduni Cup had gone down on Saturday, 17th June with the Brothers rising as the 2023 Champions.
Kramer Ausenco Brothers took on longtime nemesis and reigning champions Uni Piggies to win the 2023 Aduni Cup championship with a 27- 13 full time score during the round ten of Capital Rugby League (CRU) at Bava Park.
Uni Piggies coach John Pangkatana said keeping the traditions of old rivalries from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) alive has always been a good mental boost for both clubs.
“Piggies and brothers have gone a long way because of the student’s background, as both teams came out from UPNG. Brothers have held the title for so long and we (piggies) managed to win it last year. This year the Brothers have it again. So, it is always good for the club to win to come up on top and prove their dominance in the Areana”
During the Saturday match, the rivals put on a show of strength and skills as they scramble to gather much points for their teams respectively.
The second half was truly a battle of strength as the brothers bulldoze their way through the Piggies with their forwards but the Piggies put up a strong defense. Unfortunately, some were not enough could not hold off the attackers from reaching their line. The Brothers had asserted dominance in the entire game.
Coach Pangkatana said the brothers had dominance in the game due to their physical advantage.
“Brothers dominated in the scrums in the first half. They won eight thigh heads against us, so we couldn’t do much. They dominated due to their size as they muscled us up in the scrums. We had a few opportunities and made use of it by scoring a couple of tries but it wasn’t enough as the brothers played really well.”
He also added that losing this game showed that they have a lot of work to do to make their way into the top four and hopefully to the finals.
“With the loss today, we have dropped to fifth place. So, it’s all touch and go but we have about five games left. We definitely have a lot of work to do, such as working on the scrums and to build on certain players to play the seven backlines so it’ll will be a hard way down to the finals as all the top four teams are playing really well”
Brother Coach, Joe Kautu says it’s always good to get a victory from their rivalries.
“It’s always a good challenge against the piggies, and it’s always satisfying to get a win out of them”
He added that the win was owed to all the forwards being back on deck.
“All our forward are back on deck now, so you could see the result in the scrum lineups. However, we have to work on few things, such as to tidy up scrappy backlines.”
He added that despite most of his players being sick, he is looking forward to taking on the Nova for round 11.
“Most of our boys were down on flu and stuff and hopefully they are recovering well and will be fully fit to take on the Nova this weekend”.
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