Welcome to our Pacific Championships – PNG Kumuls v Fiji – One Minute Match Review – giving you the bare minimum round up in the bare minimum of time of the big international rugby league clash.
PNG Kumuls v Fiji Summary
As ever, there’s nothing like the pre match rituals of the Pacific nations, and Fiji’s hymn is the best of the lot.
After a dominant start to the game, where the Kumuls had a lot of good ball and territory, with many tackles in the Fiji half, their first try was created down the other end of the field.
After a Fiji 40-20 kick got them into the PNG end, the Bati were on the attack for the next part of the game, and against the flow of the game at that point Robert Derby pick pocketed a short pass from Viliame Kikau and sprinted 80 metres to score.
Not long after Fiji had a try called back for obsutrcution by Viliame Kikau he Kumuls extended the lead to 10-0. The try was set up by a barnstorming, tackle breaking run from the Kumul’s best Nene McDonald, who despite the attention of two defenders offloaded to PNG hooker Judah Rimbu for a try.
Both teams had chances before the break, but PNG were the team to break through, with Sylvester Namo driving through the Fiji defence from 10 metres out near the post. He drove hard and low and was too hard to stop. The easy conversion gave them a 16-0 half time lead.
Fiji needed to score first in the second half and they did just that in the 47th with a try in the right corner to Semi Valemei that looked too easy. It reduced the gap to 12 points.
But not long after PNG effectively won themselves the game as Robert Derby got the measure of Viliame Kikau again, with the Fiji forward finding Derby with a pass for the second time in the match, and Derby ran away with it down the other end. Derby didn’t score himself, but zigged and zagged enough to sort out the fullback and the PNG Fullback was on hand to score the try.
Both teams had a try disallowed later in the second half, and the errors did start to creep in. But PNG could and should have kept the Fiji side to four points, but a reasonably bad attempt to clean up a grubber kick backfired and Maika Sivo was in the right place to fall on the ball and score. It left the final score at 22-10.
PNG Kumuls v Fiji Final Thoughts
It was one of the Kumul’s better performances, and a decent effort with such a short preparation, and a bunch of players coming from overseas. And with a minimum of NRL stars, or NRL players in general.
The Kumuls needed no NRL superstars, they have a solid team and thoroughly outclassed Fiji who had more big time NRL experience.
For those who question the PNG NRL team bid, maybe tonight’s win will lean some towards positivity around it. The Kumuls were made up of mostly PNG Hunters or the fringiest of NRL players. And some of the best PNG players from the UK. And it’s those UK players that are important to that new NRL team bid.
Way too many PNG players feel the need to head to the UK, and a lot of them excel over there like Lachlan Lam, Rhyse Martin or Roderick Tai. But a lot never acclimatise as well, and are lost to the game after a season or so, like the great Willie Minoga.
It’s someone like Minoga, who terrorised the Queensland Cup for seasons, but could never catch the eye of an NRL club. He moved to the UK eventually which didn’t quite work out, and a brief return to the PNG Hunters didn’t quite work out either. Minoga was one of the Hunters best, and scored the premiership winning try in 2017. So imagine if he could have stayed in the NRL in a team based in PNG, I have no doubt he would have been an NRL success and cult hero of even greater heights than Justin Olam.
They just need the chance, and a few international games a year is not enough. PNG has a passionate rugby league following, bigger than anywhere in the world, and with a proper pathway who knows how many Willie Minogas there are out there.
So for those who ask the question which NRL would want to play in a PNG NRL team, that doesn’t matter. It’s more about how many PNG players we can keep in rugby league, and playing in the NRL. It could change an entire country if done properly. Which hopefully it is.
Oh, and how good is Kyle Laybutt. And why hasn’t he ever got a decent crack at the NRL. He offers so much in every department.
PNG Kumuls v Fiji Stats That Mattered
Courtesy of nrl.com
- PNG Kumuls are now W11 L7 since the 2017 Rugby League World Cup
