Permission to party? PNG can go beserk if they win

Papua New Guinea coach Adrian Lam says his players have his permission to “go berserk” and party for a week if they spring a massive World Cup upset against New Zealand on Saturday.

Lam has allowed his players to soak up the compliments and praise since they went close to toppling England in the Cup opener Townsville last weekend before going down 32-22.

He said today he’d already approved a party if they go one better this weekend and win.

“I don’t care if they go berserk for a week, I wouldn’t mind because they would have worked very hard to get it and it would be a history-making win,” Lam told AAP today.

“If they win, they can take up residency down here (Gold Coast) and we can work out their visas to get them back home later if they want.”

Lam is carrying out a delicate juggling act with his players, letting them enjoy the limelight while at the same time keeping them focused on the game against the Kiwis.

“Everywhere we’ve been people are patting the players on the back,” Lam said.

“I think it’s helped them understand what they achieved and the respect they’ve earned from people which was one of the big things driving this team.

“It’s a pool (against heavyweights Australia, England and New Zealand) where we could have really embarrassed ourselves and while we’ve got a little bit of respect, we still haven’t achieved a victory.

“We’ve made a lot of friends and won a lot of hearts but if we go one better the place (PNG) will really go berserk.”

Lam wasn’t convinced New Zealand, who’ve made three key changes with try scoring ace Kris Inu, hooker Issac Luke and hard-running forward David Fa’alogo coming into the match squad, will not make more changes.

“I’m not sure that’ll be their final line up,” said a suspicious Lam.

“I’m not saying what changes they’ll make, maybe their bench will be different.”

Lam though believes Kearney’s decision to stick with Thomas Leuluai and Benji Marshall in the halves is the right one despite criticism of Leuluai’s quiet performance against Australia last weekend.

“That’s probably the best pairing they have so they have to persist with it and get it right,” he said.

“They proved they can play together before and no doubt they can do it again.

“They would have all been disappointed with their performance and it looks like he (Kearney) has applied the blowtorch to some individuals to get them to aim up before the third game and the semi-finals.”

Lam hinted at a possible re-shuffle of his own bench with centre Jesse Jo Parker (facial cut) named but still to be cleared to play.

Super 14 tipping now live for sign-ups. Join now and invite your mates.

Free Email updates:

• Get a daily Rugby League email

Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...

© 2007 AAP