Almanac Rugby League – Pacific Championships Wrap: Kangaroos humiliated in Hamilton, Kumuls comeback in Port Moresby

 

 

 

Well, I think that’s it for the footy in 2023. And after their performance, or lack thereof, last Saturday the Australians will be happy to crawl into a hole for a few months. Let’s hope that individuals do their bit to keep the code off the front pages until we get to the pre-season in March.

 

To summarise the Pacific Championships Finals, the Kiwis gave the Kangaroos their biggest hiding in the history of the code stretching back over a century! Last week I hinted that a game in New Zealand presented a far different challenge for the Aussies and so it panned out. It was one of those semi-regular touch-ups we need to keep our feet on the ground. A bit of humble pie now and then never hurt anyone. In Port Moresby, the Kumuls turned their disappointing form of last weekend into a determined, energetic performance this time around to dominate the Bati and score a convincing 32-12 win.

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, England completed a clean sweep in their Test series over Tonga with a 26-4 win at Headingley. You can read a summary of that game here. 

 

Kiwis v Kangaroos

Two axioms of rugby league explain the hammering the Kiwis inflicted on the Kangaroos in the Cup Final on Saturday: firstly, forwards win matches and, secondly, defence wins matches. A powerful, brutal, energised and co-ordinated New Zealand forward pack stamped its authority on the game from the very first tackle and kept its foot on the Australians’ throats for the full 80 minutes. Led by Tapine, Fisher-Harris, Leota, Papali’i and Foran, the forwards created time and space in attack and a brick wall in defence to render the Kangaroos impotent. Asofa-Solomona, Neame and Thompson simply added to the dominance when they entered the fray.

 

In turn, this dominance unleashed Hughes and Dylan Brown who showed awareness and good play selection to inject their speedy, evasive and lethal backline against an undisciplined and ragged Australian defence. Wingers Mulitalo and Isaako were huge, the former showing strength, pace and power to score the first try while complementing that effort with the tackle of the match, a huge hit on Holmes as the Australian tried to step the defender. Man of the match Nicoll-Klokstad had 23 runs for 277 metres, made five tackle busts and a line-break, had two line-break assists, completed four offloads and had a hand in Isaac’s try – all while carrying a broken rib!

 

Nothing went right for the Kangaroos, but then their timid effort probably didn’t deserve much better. That’s not to say they didn’t try. The likes of Cherry-Evans, Tedesco, Yeo and Cotter never gave up trying but even their efforts were more individual than team related. They looked dangerous only once when, down 0-6, Grant put Tedesco into a hole and a try looked certain – only to have the pass called back as forward. It was marginal at worst. There were a lot worse allowed to both sides at other times throughout the match. A sliding door moment? Perhaps, but what we saw for the other 79 minutes and 55 seconds suggests that it wouldn’t have made much difference other than in the record books. The Kangaroos got a bath in every facet of the game. Statistics can be misleading at times but check out this set of figures. You can’t expect to go even close with stats like that! No wonder they got a drubbing.

 

The only real negative coming out of the game was the abysmal crowd – just over 13,000 in a 25,00-seat stadium. And I think even that figure was generous given the plethora of vacant seats clearly on view.

 

Kumuls v Bati

It was role reversal time in Port Moresby too as the Kumuls put their poor effort last weekend to control their match after a scrappy start by both teams. Once the door opened, it was one way traffic to the extent that the Kumuls got out to a 26-0 halftime lead. They were never going to be run down from there. Zac Laybutt continued his great form to, firstly, provide Robert Derby with two first half tries and then send Alex Johnston under the posts just before the break. Determined defence in the second half capped off a good day for the locals who were strongly supported by the home crowd.

 

Fiji had a couple of opportunities to get back into it early in the second half but too many errors and ill discipline put paid to any chances they had. After going undefeated until this game and remembering their rollicking form against the same opponent last weekend, this was a great leveller. They were best served by Jahream Bula and Waqa Blake who scored a brace.

 

Check out the match stats here.

 

Summary

Although the men’s Championships suffered from the absence of Tonga and a very poor crowd for the final (poor choice of location?), there were plenty of positives from this inaugural tournament to suggest that it has a good future. The women’s edition was fine as far as it went but perhaps needs to be extended to more games next year, perhaps along similar lines to the men.

 

The other point to keep an eye on is the extent to which players in the ‘minnow teams’ advance to play in the NRLW and NRL in the coming seasons. That would be great for the game in the region!

 

 

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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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