Papua New Guinea national rugby league team

Papua New Guinea
Nickname The Kumuls
Governing body Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League
Region Asia-Pacific
Head coach Michael Marum
Captain Israel Eliab
Most caps Stanley Gene, John Wilshere (16)
Home stadium Lloyd Robson Oval
RLIF ranking 14th
Colours
First game
 England 40–12 Papua New Guinea 
(Port Moresby, PNG; 6 July 1975)
Biggest win
 Cook Islands 6–86 Papua New Guinea 
(Port Moresby, PNG; November 1998)
Biggest defeat
 Australia 82–0 Papua New Guinea 
(Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville; 7 October 2000)
World Cup
Appearances 6 (last time in 2013) (first time in [[1985 Rugby League World Cup|1985]])
Best result Quarter-finals, 2000

The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea internationally in the sport of rugby league football.

In Papua New Guinea, Rugby league is highly popular and is regarded as the country’s national sport. The national side are known as the Kumuls ("birds-of-paradise" in Tok Pisin). Many Papua New Guinean players have left the country in order to pursue professional rugby league careers in Great Britain and Australia.

A team representing Papua New Guinea (generally made up of a mixture of locally based players and International Players) plays an Australian Prime Minister's XIII in an annual match in Port Moresby at the Lloyd Robson Oval. The Australian side consists mostly of developing players from the premier competition the National Rugby League (NRL), as well as a couple of veterans.

History

Rugby league was first played in Papua New Guinea in the late forties; it was introduced to the nation by Australian soldiers stationed there during and after the Second World War. Papua New Guinea were admitted to the game’s International Federation in 1974. On 6 July 1975, at Lloyd Robnson Oval, in Port Moresby the Kumuls played their first ever international. They were beaten 40-12 by England. The English team were en route to Australia and New Zealand to fulfil away fixtures during the 1975 World Cup.

They first entered the Rugby League World Cup for the 1985-89 competition, though it was not until 1995 that they won away from home. In 1987 The Kumuls stage their first full test playing tour of Britain, after playing BARLA opposition in 1979. They lost the test 42-0 at Central Park, Wigan.

On Tuesday 20 October 1987, that Cumbria met Papua New Guinea before a crowd of 3,750 at the Recreation Ground, Whitehaven. Cumbria won 22-4. Four days later they played a World Cup rated Test against Great Britain.

During the 1988 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia a Test match was played at Port Moresby. Later that year Papua New Guinea played a World Cup match against Australia in Wagga Wagga, the Kangaroos recording a then international record winning margin of 62 points with a 70-8 win. Australian winger Michael O'Connor crossed for four tries and kicked seven goals for a personal points haul of 30, which could have been 44 had he not missed seven kicks at goal. In 1991 Papua New Guinea played host to a touring Great Britain, the series ended in a 1-1 draw.

On Sunday 27 October 1991, Papua New Guinea met Wales at Vetch Field, Swansea. Roared on by a fervent crowd of 11,422; Wales won by a record 68-0 margin, scoring thirteen tries. Papua New Guinea never recovered and lost all five matches in Britain, conceding 232 points in the process, and won only one of their four matches in France.

Papua New Guinea wound up their 1991 tour of Europe with a World Cup rated Test match against France, which was played on Sunday 24 November at the Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne. Despite Papua New Guinea leading 8-4 at half-time; France defeated their visitors 28-14.

The Kumuls hosted Australia for a two test series in October 1991 (won 2-0 by the Kangaroos), and also hosted Great Britain during the 1992 Lions tour of Australasia.

Papua New Guinea travelled to England to compete in the 1995 World Cup under coach Joe Tokam and captain Adrian Lam.[1] In their group was Tonga and New Zealand, against whom they failed to win a match.

In 1996 Bob Bennett, brother of the famous Wayne Bennett, was appointed the Kumuls' coach.[2] And Bob Bennett the coach of the 2000 World Cup Kumuls team made the qualification two the pool were the kumuls made it into the top 5 team in the world so the 2000 World Cup Kumuls team was granted the best kumuls team. In 2005 Papua New Guinea beat the Australian Prime Minister's XIII 24-16 in Darwin. This was the first win over any Australian based national side. In 2007 Papua New Guinea drew with Australia PM XIII 24-24.

They were granted automatic qualification to the 2008 World Cup but were placed in a pool with the top three teams, Australia, New Zealand and England, and failed to win a match in the tournament.

2010 controversy

The Papua New Guinea team experienced huge difficulties leading to the 2010 Rugby League Four Nations Tournament, as politicians clashed for control over the game and the governing body, the PNGRFL, was split over issues concerning junior development, the national team and the Papua New Guinea NRL bid. This caused Adrian Lam to retire as head coach of the Kumuls in September 2010[3][4] while recently retired captain Stanley Gene, who had never coached a side before, was named his replacement.[5] The governing board were adamant that more Papua New Guinea-based players should be in the squad, and fewer Australia-based players should be picked. In early October the squad was announced for the tournament and consisted of 12 PNG-based players with captain Paul Aiton being the only NRL player.[6] Whilst the Australian team for the tournament was worth an estimated A$10 million, local newspapers calculated the Kumuls value at around A$670,000.

Despite the Australian media treating the defeat of the Papua New Guinean team as a mere formality, with the team having odds of 125-1 to win the tournament, the players and journalists at home were positive that the Kumuls could make a lasting impression in the tournament.[7] After their first up 42-0 defeat against Australia, the team's enthusiasm and crunching tackles were praised, but ball control and creativity let the team down hugely.[8] However the team faced much more criticism after their 76-12 thrashing suffered at the hands of New Zealand, with fans angry at the poor display from the players[9] and some questioning the credentials of new coach Stanley Gene.[10] Days after the match a broader look at the sport in the country occurred with one assessment concluding that rugby league was poorly managed[11] and former PNG great Marcus Bai called on clubs to supply a greater number of representative standard players especially from the New Guinea Islands region which had supplied five of this year's team.[12] The way politics had made its way into the governing of the sport was also condemned.[13]

Return To Redfern

On the 9th of February 2013, Papua New Guinea played a trial game against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, at Redfern Oval. They lost 38-12.

2015 Pacific Rugby League Test

In May 2015, Papua New Guinea took on Fiji in the 2015 Melanesian Cup at Cbus Super Stadium. The International was part of a triple header which also included the Polynesian Cup, between Samoa and Tonga, and the Junior Kangaroos against the Junior Kiwis. The Kumuls never really troubled the Fijians after handling errors and poor decisions led to the Bati easily winning the inaugural Melanesian Cup by 22-10.

2016 Pacific Rugby League Test

In May 2016, Papua New Guinea took on Fiji in the 2016 Melanesian Cup at Pirtek Stadium. The International was part of a triple header which also included the Polynesian Cup, between Samoa and Tonga, and the Junior Kangaroos against the Junior Kiwis.

Current squad

The Papua New Guinea national team squad selected for the 2016 Melanesian Cup test-match.[14] (caps and points apply for before the test-match began):

Other Nat. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Pts Club
Papua New Guinea Fullback David Mead (Captain) 4 November 1988 8 20 Gold Coast Titans
Papua New Guinea Wing Justin Olam 0 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters
Papua New Guinea Wing Stargroth Amean 9 March 1991 0 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters
Papua New Guinea Wing Adex Wera 18 May 1990 1 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters
Papua New Guinea Centre Kato Ottio 20 March 1994 1 0 Canberra Raiders
Papua New Guinea Centre Nene McDonald 11 May 1994 4 4 Gold Coast Titans
Papua New Guinea Five-eighth Ase Boas 26 December 1988 1 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters
Papua New Guinea Halfback Watson Boas 8 November 1994 0 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters
Australia Prop Luke Page 12 January 1991 1 0 Burleigh Bears
Papua New Guinea Prop Henry Wan 0 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters
Papua New Guinea Hooker Wartovo Puara 24 June 1990 1 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters
Australia Hooker Kurt Baptiste 15 March 1991 0 0 Canberra Raiders
Australia Second-row Rhyse Martin 1 March 1993 1 0 Townsville Blackhawks
Papua New Guinea Second-row Rod Griffin 5 January 1987 9 8 Wests Tigers
Papua New Guinea Second-row Brandy Peter 4 September 1991 1 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters
Papua New Guinea Second-row Willie Minoga 17 September 1987 1 0 Townsville Blackhawks
Papua New Guinea Lock Adam Korave 1 February 1990 1 0 Papua New Guinea Hunters

Notable players

Past results

Country Matches Won Drawn Lost
Total 70 18 2 50
 Australia 12 0 0 12
 Cook Islands 2 2 0 0
 England 3 0 0 3
 Fiji 6 5 0 1
 France 14 4 1 9
 Great Britain 8 1 0 7
 New Zealand 18 1 0 17
 South Africa 1 1 0 0
 Tonga 6 5 1 0
 Wales 3 0 0 3
 Samoa 1 0 0 1

Victories are shown in bold.

Official Rankings as of December 2015[15]
RankChangeTeamPoints
1 Steady  New Zealand897.00
2  Australia 719.00
3  England 655.00
4  Samoa 280.00
5  France 209.00
6 Increase  Ireland 162.00
7 Decrease  Fiji 147.00
8 Increase  Wales 132.00
9 Decrease  Scotland 121.00
10 Steady  United States 102.00
11 Increase  Serbia 72.00
12 Steady  Italy 65.00
13  Canada 62.00
14 Decrease  Papua New Guinea 60.00
15 Increase  Russia 46.00
16 Decrease  Tonga 40.00
17 Increase  Belgium 40.00
18  Malta 32.00
19 Steady  Germany 28.00
20  Lebanon 27.00
21 Increase  Spain 26.00
22 Decrease  Cook Islands 23.00
23  Ukraine 22.00
24 Steady Greece 21.00
25 Increase  Denmark 20.00
26 Decrease  Norway 19.00
27 Increase  Jamaica 16.00
28 Decrease  Netherlands 15.00
29 Decrease  Sweden 15.00
30 Steady  Czech Republic 14.00
31 Decrease  South Africa 13.00
32 Steady  Niue 4.00
33  Hungary 2.00
34  Latvia 2.00
35  Morocco 0.00

Other Papua New Guinean teams

- Recently played QLD U18 as a curtain raiser to Origin I. The QLD U/18 def. Kundus 20-16. The team is captained by Wayne Bond

Participated tournaments

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hadfield, Dave (1995-10-08). "Island gods high in a dream world". The Independent. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  2. ↑ Hadfield, David (1996-09-14). "Eagles to share United's roost". Independent, The (UK: independent.co.uk). Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  3. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald - Adrian Lam Quits As PNG Coach
  4. ↑ The Australian - Lam Quits As PNG Coach
  5. ↑ Four Nations Official Website - Stanley Gene Returns As Kumuls Coach
  6. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald - PNG Squad Announced
  7. ↑ The National - PNG Out Of Their Depth?
  8. ↑ The National - Kumuls Need More Work Before NRL
  9. ↑ Facebook - Kumuls v Kiwis
  10. ↑ The National - Disgraceful Display By Kumuls
  11. ↑ The National - Rugby League Poorly Managed
  12. ↑ The National - Marcus Bai Challenges Agmark Gurias
  13. ↑ Weekend Post Courier - Politics In Rugby
  14. ↑ Webeck, Tony (2016-04-27). "PNG name five NRL stars for Pacific Test". nrl.com. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  15. ↑ RLIF Rankings.

External links

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