Almanac Rugby League – The 2025 Ashes Second Test and the Pacific Championships Week 3

 

 

The Ashes – First Test

The old rugby league adages were there again for all to see – forwards win matches, defence wins matches. The Australian pack was stronger, faster and more committed both with and without the ball. Their English opponents were big, slow, cumbersome and one dimensional. You can’t win a game at any level with that approach. Australia’s defence was its strongest point – they kept their straight line, hit hard with purpose and in concert. There were rarely troubled apart from a couple grubbers that caught them napping and a line break or two where TMW (That Man Walsh) read the timing of the last pass perfectly to knock the ball away. And the Australians did it all with 16 men after Yeo was forced off after 10 minutes with a head knock.

 

Walsh is in a rare place at the moment – he scored two tries and saved two; his scorching 70 metre run early in the second half was the highlight of the game and the Chooms never recovered. Crichton was just as good – menacing in defence and always in the right spot in attack. His two tries were well deserved and he’ll never get an easier one at this level than his second, a reverse pass from Munster to put him in space and a defending fullback who just stood and watched. But this was a team effort with everyone doing their bit in the circumstances – there were no passengers. I could run through them all and make a positive comment about each and every one. The Australian bench players were huge compared to their counterparts. I have a soft spot for Cotter, who came on to replace Yeo. He isn’t physically the biggest forward going around but he makes up for it with energy, persistence, game sense and a useful skillset. It’s yet another adage – it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog. Perhaps that’s the right word for Cotter – he’s dogged!

 

England went into the game full of talk and with plans for an ambush. That team must have rolled up to another stadium. Farnworth was the exception – he was everywhere, fighting for every metre with the ball, grappling and determined in defence. You’d never think it was his first game in almost three months. Well played, Herbie! Bateman was the pick of the pack, niggling away, refusing to take a backward step – but he lacked company. Williams tried to get his backline organised but they were blanketed by Staggs and Shibasaki. Young saw a lot of the ball but it was mostly coming out of his own end of the paddock. AJ Brimson must play next week, surely.

 

But, let’s be honest, as a game it wasn’t much of a spectacle with the Kangaroos nowhere near their best. More than a dozen errors, too often a last pass gone wrong with space, and try-scoring opportunities going begging, plagued their performance. What might they do if they click? As they say, they’ll be better for the run. The biggest blight on the game was the snails pace of the ruck. That’s back on the referee. Get ’em off and get on with the game! Apart from that I thought he had a pretty good game. Let’s see how the Australian whistleblower handles it this week.

 

The Australians will have to make one change to replace Yeo in the starting line-up. The Chooms need a pretty major rethink.

 

The Pacific Championships – Week 2

Women’s Division: On Saturday, Cook Islands Moana secured their first ever Pacific Bowl with a solid win over the Tonga XIII by 42-24. The game was plagued by a large number of handling errors but the hot, sweltering conditions probably didn’t help. Nevertheless it was an entertaining game, strongly contested, played in excellent spirit and with an emphasis on attack. The Tongans opened brightly and raced to a 10-0 lead before the Moana settled and fought back to lead 16-10 at oranges. They extended this to 22-10 straight after the break and looked like they might run away with the game. But Tonga went try for try and got it back to 28-24 before three unanswered tries to the Moana closed out the contest. Tonga were best served by their bullocking reserves Arakua and Matua who scored three tries between them through brute force. Winger Siauane also crossed for a double, the second featuring a Campese-like goose step as she bamboozled the defence. Tonga’s best included halfback Maki who went toe to toe with last week’s Moana star, Chantay Kiria-Ratu, fullback Malupo and backrorwer Muru.

 

On Sunday afternoon the Jillaroos put on an absolute clinic to blow Fetu Samoa away to the tune of 60-0. What can you say? To their credit, Fetu Samoa played with spirit and never gave up, but the gap between the teams, in every aspect, was a chasm. To see the brilliance of the Jillaroos, just watch the try by Robinson in the 50th minute and then take in the effort by Apps in the 67th minute for examples of absolute athleticism. How do you defend against that kind of play? Throw in the back-up play and speed off the mark by Upton and you have the stuff of nightmares. What can the Ferns do this week?

 

Men’s Division: The PNG Kumuls opened their campaign with a hard-earned win over a game Aitu in front of a packed, vocal home crowd. The Aitu got on the board first through the scheming Ngatikaura before Derby replied with the first of his two tries. The Kumuls gradually asserted their superiority through a powerful forward pack and led 22-12 at the break. The Aitu tried hard to get back into the game and managed to get within six points with six minutes on the clock as players tired in the heat. But it was to no avail as a last minute intercept try to Voro stretched the margin to 12 at the finish. There was a lot to like about the Kumuls – strong up front, agile, good offloads, punishing in defence. Guided by No. 7 Lachlan Lam, their backline was efficient, with centres Laybutt and Macdonald impressive. Ipape was lively at No. 9, De Belin and Martin added starch and experience, while Cooper Bai came off the bench to showcase his enormous potential. For the Aitu, Rennie scored a great individual try, Piakura never gave up and Wigmore made a good cameo towards the end. Watching this game, you can see just what a PNG side will be able to bring to the NRL in 2028.

 

The Toa Samoa v Tonga XIII failed to live up to its hype. Stung by their loss to the Kiwis last week, the men in blue came out smoking and soon established a dominance, particularly in the forwards, that the stunned Tongans. Too big, too strong, too fast – yes, a cliché but an accurate reflection of what happened. Junior Paulo was huge for Toa Samoa, the best game I’ve ever seen him play. A 90-minute interruption caused by lightening and a thunderstorm with 20 minutes to go only delayed the inevitable with Samoa eventually winning by 34-6. For this viewer, the match highlight was the spirited rendition of the respective national anthems where the evident power and importance of their communities brought hardened men to tears.

 

This weekend features the Second Ashes Test in Liverpool as well as the final round of the Pacific Championships preliminaries ahead of next week’s finals.

 

The Ashes – Second Test

After last week’s First test, the Kangaroos will go into the second match against England as raging favourites. Complacency may be their biggest opponent. The Kangaroos have made only the one forced change to their line-up with Collins coming off the bench to start in the front row and Lindsay Smith joining the bench. Carrigan will swap to lock to take the spot vacated by the concussed Yeo. Harry Grant takes over the captaincy. To see the full Kangaroos team click here.

 

The England squad has been announced and, as expected, there have been several changes! See the full squad here.

 

Only one result looks possible – the Kangaroos! Check local guides for match times.

 

The Pacific Championships – Week 3

Women’s division: Saturday’s match in Port Moresby is all about restoring some pride after both the PNG Orchids and the Tonga XIII lost their opening matches to the division winners, the Cook Islands Moana. Both were disappointing and disappointed in their first-up efforts, so expect a willing contest in this game. Based on ‘form’, I’ll probably favour the Orchids – just!

 

The ‘big match’ is Sunday afternoon’s clash between the Ferns and the Jillaroos in Auckland. They had contrasting wins in their first games, the Ferns coming back to pip Fetu Samoa while the Jillaroos destroyed that same opponent 60-0! On that basis you’d have to say that the Jillaroos are raging favourites, and probably so. But the Ferns will be up for this one and so we can expect, at the very least, a very physical clash with neither side giving an inch. But, in the end, you’d have to expect that the speed, strength and skills of the Australians right across the park will prevail. The Jillaroos to win.

 

Men’s division: The PNG Kumuls host the Fiji Bati on Saturday, both teams coming into this game with winning form. The Kumuls looked quite classy as they downed the Cook Islands Aitu last week while the Tongan combination were strong winners over the Aitu in Week 1. It should be a beauty! Expect plenty of speed and physicality before, I think, the Bati sail away with this one again.

 

Sunday’s Kiwis v Tonga XIII should rock Eden Park. A win or a loss by less than about 17 points will see the Kiwis progress to next week’s Championships final against Toa Samoa. The Tongans need a big win to go through to next week. Tonga were disappointing last week in the rain-interrupted match against Toa Samoa and will be out to redeem themselves in front of their many fans in NZ. But I can’t see them matching the confident Kiwis to win, let alone win by a sufficient margin to make the final. Get on the Kiwis.

 

To see all the teams for Week 3 of the Pacific Championships click here.

 

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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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