By CHARLIE DUMAVI
Poreporena Marlins beat South City Rams 21-13 to claim the top prize of the 2023 Dadi Toka Pepsi rugby league 9s in Port Moresby to conclude the three days tournament that was contested at Sir Hubert Murray stadium.
South City Rams settled for K4, 000 with a trophy while Marlines walked away six thousand richer with K10, 000 with the Cup.
Marlines got the team together in just two days before the tournament kick off between the champions over 31 other teams.
Marlins Captain Michael Aimari expressed his mixed feeling after winning the grand final saying they just pulled together the team and did not expect to finish on top.
“I’m having an unexpected feeling because honestly we just trained for two days to compete in the tournament. The team is an existing team but there were no players to play,” Aimari said.
“The good side is that we are all experience 9s players and that is the reason we didn’t have any problem with our games.”
He said Marlins was first established only to compete in 9s tournaments, however, as the time goes by the players saw the buildup in interest to compete in 13s and so they are now also one of the teams who compete around National Capital District rugby league tournaments.
He further said the team is made up of players from Poreporena village, Hanua Bada and few other players from the Southern part of the city.
The competition ended on a high note in front of the fans and the followers of rugby league which created an atmosphere that could not get any better but electrified throughout the day.
Pulling up into the finals playoffs, the SS Dolphins took out the Bowl, while Buria Reds of Rearea village ended their campaign as plate winners.
