On standby for winner of Tent City, Royals HORNIBROOK HARLEQUINS have broken a seven years drought with their qualification into the Morobe Rugby Union premier grade Grand Final. Harlies beat Dekenai Construction ESS City Lights 14-18 in the major semi-final at the SCRUM Oval in Lae on the weekend. They scored two tries to former Kenabot Piggies (Kokopo Rugby Union) player in Julian Ronald playing at second-five. Ronald combined well with fullback Travis Maguna. Other players to feature in the win were tight-head prop Francis Miria, lock Theophil Bogan and flanker Junior August. A relieved coach Michael Muruki said they have gone through a tough period with a change of the guard in recent years and were just lucky to get some momentum this season to be more consistent. “I think it has been about seven years since we last made the grand final and won as well. “So, yes there has been a lot of time in between drinks to get back to be competitive again. “We had to sacrifice several years to blood our juniors coming through the lower grades and that is slowly paying off,” he added. Muriki said currently they only have retained three players from last season in evergreen Francis Luveni, Elias Patala and Elijah Able. “The rest are our development players coming through the rank and file,” he added. Harlequins will now standby for the winner of the preliminary final between City Lights and Royals. With regards to the rest of the club, Muriki said their U20 and women’s teams have also qualified for the grand final. He said the women’s team who are the reigning champions are on track with senior players Janella Pitbank, Mary Kaizam and Christine Miria taking the lead. “Only our A grade who finished third are playing a knock-out minor semi-final against Defence during the public holiday this week to decide if they are still in the race,” Muruki added. He congratulated the A grade for a huge turnaround this season after finished near last to third this season.“I commend their outspoken leader in Richmond Dadim and Jeremy Tatako for their strong run