New Zealand annihilated Papua New Guinea in their Four Nations rugby league clash in Rotorua on Saturday scoring 14 tries in a runaway 76-12 victory.
In the process, the Kiwis fired a warning to Australia that the Kangaroos’ pre-tournament favourite tag with the bookmakers may have been premature.
By half-time New Zealand had scored eight tries and had 46 unanswered points on the board, four more than Australia could manage in the whole game when they beat the Kumuls 42-0 the previous week.
New Zealand ran in a further six tries in the second half as they enjoyed 61 percent of possession and benefitted from 60 missed tackles by a ragged Papua New Guinea defence.
It gave New Zealand their second win from two matches after they beat England 24-10 in the first round and put them on the verge of making the final.
Despite the overwhelming nature of the win, captain Benji Marshall saw a need for further improvement before they face Australia next week.
“We were disappointed after last week… and I think we made some steps towards improving and we can still improve for next week so we’ve still got a lot to work on for next week,” he said. “We can still get better.”
PNG captain Paul Aiton was at a loss to explain his side’s record loss.
“I’m very disappointed. I don’t know if there was something missing or we were just a bit too relaxed. We just lacked that something,” he said.
Sam Perrett, who was promoted to the Kiwis’ starting lineup following last week’s tournament-ending injury to Manu Vatuvei, bagged a hattrick of tries, as did Junior Sa’u.
Jeremy Smith scored twice while Simon Mannering, Lance Hohaia, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Isaac Luke, Jason Nightingale and Sika Manu also touched down with skipper Marshall landing eight goals and Luke two.
New Zealand made the perfect start, completing a full set and then pinning Papua New Guinea fullback Ryan Tongia in the in-goal area.
From the restart Hohaia took play up to the line and Perrett crossed wide out with Marshall adding the goal.
New Zealand repeated the dose from the kickoff, with Mannering scoring the second try and with six minutes gone Papua New Guinea were 12 points down and had not moved the ball apart from two kick-offs.
Smith scored his double in quick succession and Sa’u was gifted his first when a kick over the line bounced away from the defence and straight to the unmarked wing, leaving New Zealand with 28 points on the board.
Papua New Guinea enjoyed their most promising period of the first half when Tongia and Jessie Joe Parker both attacked the New Zealand line but could not get the better of fullback Hohaia.
When the brief challenge was over, normal order was restored with Hohaia, Sa’u and Luke all scoring in the closing minutes of the half.
Perrett and Sa’u each scored in the opening minutes of the second spell and with the result beyond doubt, New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney pulled inspirational skipper Marshall from the field.
His departure coincided with PNG scoring back-to-back tries, the first to Emmanuel Yere, who dummied his way over the line, and then hooker Charlie Wabo gathered in his own chip kick to send Glen Nami on a 50-metre run to the line with Tongia landing both goals.
But the Kiwis were not done, and came back to complete the game with further tries to Perrett, Nightingale and Manu.
Australia play England in Melbourne on Sunday. If they win it will ensure they play New Zealand in the final and will render next week’s England-PNG and New Zealand-Australia double-header in Auckland largely academic.
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