PNG PLAYERS IN FRANCE

[mikail-eagle]

France bound

From Baruni all the way to France.

postcourier.com.pg

So the Eilte 1 will now have 2 former PNG Hunters playing in it after utility player Gahuna Silas joined Saint Gaudens this week.
He will be the 2nd PNG player there joining another former PNG Hunters player Nickson Borona who is at Villeneuve.

Not sure if this will encourage more players from PNG to move in that direction from the Hunters or directly from the Digicel Cup.

From memory only a hand full of PNG players have ever played in France starting with Richard Wagabie in 1992 for Carpentras and most recently with the likes of Kuni Minga, Rhadley Brawa and Garry Lo.

There is a bottle neck to get into the Hunters so this is now a realistic option for PNG Rugby League Players.

 

[cumbrian Mackem]

France bound

From Baruni all the way to France.

postcourier.com.pg

So the Eilte 1 will now have 2 former PNG Hunters playing in it after utility player Gahuna Silas joined Saint Gaudens this week.
He will be the 2nd PNG player there joining another former PNG Hunters player Nickson Borona who is at Villeneuve.

Not sure if this will encourage more players from PNG to move in that direction from the Hunters or directly from the Digicel Cup.

From memory only a hand full of PNG players have ever played in France starting with Richard Wagabie in 1992 for Carpentras and most recently with the likes of Kuni Minga, Rhadley Brawa and Garry Lo.

There is a bottle neck to get into the Hunters so this is now a realistic option for PNG Rugby League Players.

Elite1 in France and the championship in the U.K. are a step down from the Queensland cup but better than the digicel cup.

Its maybe a better option for kumuls to earn a super league contract as opposed to earning an NRL contract which are few and far between even after the hunters playing in the Queensland cup for 7-8 years now.

 

[mikail-eagle]

This sort of stories will probably encourage more players from PNG to look that way.

Ex-Hunter aims to stay in France | The National

www.thenational.com.pg

Ex-Hunter aims to stay in France​

January 6, 2022The NationalSports
By PARKER TAMBUA
FORMER SP Hunter Nickson Borana is eyeing a contract extension with French Elite One club, Les Loup Villefranche, as his three-year deal ends at the end of the 2022 season.
The 25-year-old told The National yesterday that he had a memorable four years of playing rugby league in France.
Borana said despite the challenges, he had enjoyed his football and that he wanted to continue his career in France.
“I am enjoying the life here in France and the challenges, so I want to keep playing and live here,” said Borana, who is part Central and Chimbu.
“I will give my best this season and also talk to the club to try sort out a contract extension.
“It was at the end of 2018 that I arrived in France and joined my first club, Villeneuve Leopards. “I was with Leopards for one season before I joined my current club at the end of 2019 on a three-year contract.
“I love this club (Les Loup Villefranche), the players and coaching staff are like family.”
Borana said he had to go through many challenges when he first arrived in the country.
“It was daunting at first when I realised that I would be living and playing in a country that spoke their own language and not English,” he said.
“But the language was not the only barrier, I had to deal with differences in beliefs, religion, culture and the lifestyle.
“Some things that I accepted as the truth back in PNG were not the case here, so it was extremely tough but things got better as time went by.
“Now I can even speak French and understand it a little, but not like my countryman, Kuni Minga, who speaks fluently.”
Borana said one of the good things about living in France was that he got to travel to other countries in Europe.
“I don’t need a visa or other requirements to travel within Europe and that’s what I like about this place,” he said.
“Just last month, I visited Belgium and it was a great experience.”

 

[cumbrian Mackem]

Looks to me like the best hope for the PNG National RL side in the near future to compete on the international stage if you can call international RL that is to scout out players in the Aussie youth competitions with PNG heritage as unfortunately the hunters experiment isn’t quite working.

apparently there’s two youngsters at North Queensland who have PNG heritage and I also believe that kumuls legend Marcus Bai has a son in the youth setup at the Gold Coast Titans.