Australian PM's XIII beat PNG 50 - 10

Tate running towards the tryline. Image source. The National

A CLASSY showing by a near full strength Australian Kangaroos saw the Papua New Prime Minister’s XIII thrashed 52-10 at the Kalabond Oval, in Kokopo, yesterday.
The ‘graveyard’ failed to live up to expectations, instead giving the Team Kumul management a reality check three weeks before the first World Cup match against France.
The Australians were just too big and showed their professionalism in a nine-try rout that will have fractured the Kumuls World Cup build-up. 
The thrashing served drove home the message that the Kumuls need the overseas compliment of size and experience to be competitive on the global stage.
Kumul coach Adrian Lam said after match it was disappointing, especially as they had worked hard on their defence.
“It just a fact of life that you have to deal with that the Australians were just too big and you need the big players on the big stage to be on par with them,” a despondent Lam said.
“While the Digicel Cup is a good yardstick, it does not compare with the NRL or Super League … we just have to be realistic. The loss gives us a lot to work on and has exposed some areas that we will work on once the national selectors finalise the team (Kumuls) this week.” 
The locals were troubled from the opening whistle as the Australians attacked in wave after wave.
The guile of speed merchant Jarryd Hayne punching of an inside pass set-move from Brent Tate set the tone in the opening minutes for what was going to be a long day for the potential Kumuls.
Their momentum seemed endless as hulking North Queensland Cowboy prop James Tamou bulldozed his way over and then Tate again punched through Papua New Guinea’s right flank to race away for an 18-0 lead in a blistering 20-minute spell.
PNG finally found some light when a few errors by their slick counterparts saw several opportunities down the left flank for Richard Kambo and Jessie Joe Nandye but they fell short.
But when attacked, the right flank through hard-working Paul Aiton to Roger Laka to finally found an opening for centre Israel Eliab to crash through Josh Morris.
That did raised hope of a revival among the committed who braved the sunshine before the heavens opened up.
But that setback only upped the tempo for Australian dummy half Robbie Farah to send in the big men in Tamou, David Shillington, Sam Thaiday, Ben Hannant, Corey Parker and Ryan James to soften the PNG defence through the middle.
It led to Gold Coast Titans pacey winger Kevin Gordon pouncing on a cross-kick from teammate Greg Bird and then Parramatta Eels wonder boy Hayne sliced through the right flank off another set move with Bird and Tate for a 30-4 lead at half-time.
Despite PNG putting on a more spirited show following the break, with determined efforts from David Loko, Larsen Marape, Enoch Maki, Petero Sanivalu, Kambo, Nene MacDonald, Wellington Albert and Mark Mexico, they could not shift the tide.
Even with the heavy downpour in the second-half, the Australians muscled up with tries to Josh Papalii, Shillington, Sezer and the Morris twins – Brett and Josh – to stretch away.
PNG managed to finally break through with their second try late in the game to Abavu off a grubber from Laka.
Australian PM’s XIII 52 (J.Hayne 2, B.Morris, B.Tate, J.Morris, K.Gordon, A.Sezar, J.Tamou, D.Shillington tries; A.Sezer 7, C.Parker 1conversions) 52 d Papua New Guinea PM’s XIII (I.Eliab, J.Abavu tries; F.Paniu 1 conversion) 10.


The National