Kumuls beat Tonga 38 - 18

THE Papua New Guinea Kumuls were not decisive but showed a lot of character in beating a classier Mate Ma’a Tonga 38-18 in a one-off Test match at the Lae Rugby League Oval yesterday.

The Kumuls struggled to maintain pace in the first half (12-12) but managed to cut-down the bulkier Tongans down to size with a purposeful second-half performance.

Even the Tongan outfit boasting a horde of NSW Cup and National Rugby League (NRL) players struggled to keep pace with the no name Kumul outfit when it really mattered the most.

The Kumuls, with only three survivors from last year’s World Cup in skipper Israel Eliab, Sebastian Pandia and Mark Mexico, lacked the experience but brought on some of that SP PNG Hunters ‘magic’ to give the 3000 strong crowd their money’s worth in a barnstorming second-half.

The Kumuls needed a spark, and that was ignited by the Kumuls inter-change in Lawrence Tu’u, Noel Zemming, Brandy Peter and the ‘Wapanamanda mac truck’ Willie Minoga.

They did it for the Hunters as it was just another day in the office for the quartet as they pounded a soak drenched Tongan defence-line in an opening 20 minute blitz to the second-half.

Tonga and PNG have similar whether patterns so the heat was not an issue, it was came down to who wanted to win the most.

And the ‘dog fight’ in the Kumuls came out barring its teeth through an uplifting performance from prop Mark Mexico, Timothy Lomai and Rhyse Martin who led by example to humble their beefy counterparts that threatened to spoil the Kumuls first Test on home-soil in over a decade.

Lo showed why he is the Intrust Super Cup top try-scorer when he dissected the Tongan right-edge to bag his second try and the momentum grew from there.

Despite Tongan skipper Viliami Sikamanu efforts to sway the match referee, the home-side punished the visitors with their kicking game when a Roger Laka bomb was spilled for winger Wera to score his second try and take a commanding 22-12 lead.

Tonga were denied by stifling Kumul defence until midway into the second half when left wing Pio Tupou gave them some hope with a converted try to take to within four points.

The Tongans dared to fight back and a bulldozing run that left Kumul lock Adam Korave knock-out cold only signaled to add fuel.

Kumuls dominated the remaining 20 minutes with a sizzling try to right-centre Thomson Tete and then rake Wartovo Puara Jnr rammed the nail in the coffin with his 60 meter solo effort four minutes to the full-time hooter.

PNG 38 (G.Low 2, A.Wera 2, T.Teteh, W.Puara Jnr tries; N.Zemming 2, R.Martin, I.Eliab conv.) d Tonga 18 (S.Kaita 2, P.Tupu, U.Taai tries; S.Kaita conv.).

PNG TODAY/Post Courier