PAPUA New Guinea served notice that they will be the real deal in their Rugby League World Cup quarter-final against England on Saturday as they brought an emphatic end to Wales’ valiant campaign in Doncaster on Monday night.
Stanley Tepend’s men, who are based in Warrington for their time in the tournament, scored six tries and Leeds Rhino Rhyse Martin was faultless with the boot to wrap up a 36-0 victory that confirmed their place as Group B runners-up and with it an evident danger to the hosts’ hopes of further progression.
Orchestrated by Leigh Leopards pair Edwin Ipape and Lachlan Lam, driven by a merciless forward line and inspired by the galloping energy of double try scorer Jimmy Ngutlik out wide, the favourites simply had too much for the wilting Welsh to counter in the teeming rain at the Eco-Power Stadium.
The Kumuls got on the scoreboard within eight minutes when hugely impressive half-back Kyle Laybutt smashed through a trio of red shirts to touch down.
The near-total dominance of the powerful Papuan forwards was soon apparent and when second row Nixon Putt burst over for the second from point-blank range in the 12th minute, it became a damage limitation exercise for Kear’s men.
Oliver Olds almost created a Wales try with a clever grubber, but moments later PNG sparked back into life when Ngutlik charged from inside his own half to go over for his side’s third.
Dan Russell scored the fourth PNG try to make it 24-0 on the half-time hooter, and the fifth arrived the other side of the interval when Putt went over for his second of the night.
The impressive Ngutlik – clearly one to watch for Shaun Wane’s men at the weekend – latched onto an up-and-under to seal his own double and with it a comprehensive win.
Papua New Guinea coach Stanley Tepend immediately switched his attention towards next Saturday’s quarter-final against hosts England after his side’s convincing win.
The Kumuls will be hoping to go one better than their experience at the 2017 World Cup when they fell 36-6 to England in the last eight in Melbourne.
“We wanted to concentrate on tonight’s game and we hardly spoke about what lay beyond but now we can close this part and look at the quarter-finals starting tomorrow,” said Tepend.
“We had targets that we wanted to achieve in the pool stages and we’ve done that, and the performance really showed how tight we all are off the field.
“I think we’ve learned from what happened in 2017. The players are now a lot smarter and a lot younger. I think we relied on a few individuals but now it’s more of a team effort and we’ve got better players I guess as well.”
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