Papua New Guinea captain Rhyse Martin missed the chance to take the world record for consecutive conversions but still played a key role in keeping his country’s Rugby League World Cup hopes alive with a 32-16 win over the Cook Islands.
The Kumuls skipper scored a try and kicked four goals in front of 6273 fans at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington as PNG bounced back from last week’s narrow loss to Tonga.
In a standout performance, Martin’s first conversion attempt denied him a place in the record books with 42 back-to-back successful goals when he failed to convert a Rodrick Tai try in the 14th minute.
Tai was a constant threat for the Kumuls, scoring two tries and clocking 164 running metres.
The victory means PNG must beat winless Wales to set up a likely quarter-final clash with hosts England. Centre Justin Olam was taken off in the second half after scoring a late try when the result was assured.
(Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images for RLWC)
The Cook Islands, meanwhile, face an uphill battle to qualify for the last eight, with group D heavyweights Tonga to come in their final pool match.
Tai grabbed the opener, running 80 metres from a 20-metre tap to score in the corner after Cook Islands winger Steven Marsters had kicked a penalty.
Martin was unable to convert Tai’s effort but made amends when five-eighth Kyle Laybutt crashed over soon after.
Paul Ulberg hit back for the Kukis to cut PNG’s lead to 10-8 at halftime after Kumuls forward MacKenzie Yei was sinbinned for a high shot.
The Kumuls pulled ahead after the break, with Martin, Lachlan Lam, Tai and Olam all going over.
Cook Islands centre Anthony Gelling and fullback Kayal Iro scored late but their hopes of a comeback were foiled when Reubenn Rennie was sinbinned by referee Chris Kendall for a tip-tackle on PNG prop Wellington Albert.
Kasey Badger has been widely praised after becoming the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup game, with the coaches of Tonga and Wales singling her out after the match.
“I though Kasey did a great job,” said Wales boss John Kear. “It’s important for rugby league to take that step forward.”
Kristian Woolf, in charge of Tonga, added: “”It was a great opportunity for her. It is a big occasion and she’s obviously done a great job in the NRL. She had a great opportunity there, and she’s had a great opportunity tonight. It was great to see.”
International Rugby League chairman Troy Grant released a statement congratulating Badger. “On behalf of the IRL board, I congratulate Kasey Badger on her historic and well-deserved appointment to the Wales-Tonga Test match,” he wrote.
“Kasey is helping to create history and a lasting legacy for not only women in league, but rugby league as a whole.”
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has told New Zealand coach Michael Maguire he can be trusted to not overstep the mark after his NRL season ended in the red mist.
Waerea-Hargreaves returns this week from a three-game suspension picked up in the Sydney Roosters’ final game when he head-slammed South Sydney’s Tom Burgess in a fiery encounter.
He was able to use New Zealand’s trial match with Leeds Rhinos as part of his suspension and will make his comeback in the Kiwis’ final Rugby League World Cup group game against Ireland on Friday (Saturday AEDT).
Having missed the opening two pool fixtures, the prop is aware he is pressed for time if he is to force his way into Maguire’s pack, which boasts James Fisher-Harris, Joe Tapine, captain Jesse Bromwich and Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
“We have had those (conversations) and you’ve got to learn from your mistakes,” Waerea-Hargreaves said of his discussions with coach Maguire.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
“You just need to be better and I need to play the best style of footy I can play.
“I thought I wasn’t going (to the World Cup).
“I sat there for about half-an-hour (after learning of the suspension) thinking, ‘There’s no way Madge is going to select me now’.”
Thankfully for Waerea-Hargreaeves he was granted a lifeline but the prop, who will face off against clubmate Luke Keary on Friday, said the last few weeks had been frustrating for him.
“You come away in a 24-man squad and you do fitness most days, but there’s no real light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
“I trained with the team today rather than just running the ball up 20 times and getting bashed, and it’s exciting to be back.”
Waerea-Hargreaves is the archetypal “enforcer” but conceded his tendency to take things too far was difficult to explain to his children.
“(My seven-year-old daughter) is like, ‘Why did you get in trouble dad?’,” he said.
“I say, ‘Sometimes daddy has to push a boundary a little bit too far’, and I can see her little mind thinking.
“It’s the middle one – the four-year-old – who thinks she can go to school and do that as well.
“I enjoy my role and sometimes there’s a line and sometimes I push it.”
Sydney Roosters youngster Joseph Suaalii will aim to upset his head coach Trent Robinson, while Chanel Harris-Tavita is hoping to delay his elite-level hiatus by one more week when Samoa face France in the Rugby League World Cup.
The two sides will go head-to-head in Warrington on Sunday (Monday AEDT) in a straight shootout for a spot in the tournament’s quarter-finals.
The winner is likely to meet Tonga in the first round of the knockout stages.
Samoa bounced back from their humbling opening-round defeat against England to register a big win over Greece last week and keep their progression hopes alive.
“When you look at our team on paper, you’d think we would be serious contenders for the World Cup,” Harris-Tavita said.
“We have the goods. We just have to knuckle down, work hard and focus on each week as it comes.”
The game could be Harris-Tavita’s last at an elite level for some time, with the talented Warriors playmaker set for an indefinite break from the NRL.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“It hasn’t really sunk in that it might be the last game – I’ve got to get picked first,” he said.
“France are going to come out firing and we’re going to have to start the game really well.
“We have shown what happens if you lack effort areas. Our effort is going to have to go up 10 times, as is our execution.”
For Suaalii, the World Cup matchup means facing off against his club coach Robinson, who is assisting France boss Laurent Frayssinous.
Robinson has been fiercely protective of the Roosters’ talented teenager and has begun to get the best out of him at NRL level while using him as a winger.
“I don’t see it as going up against him, more just against France,” Suaalii said.
“I love Robbo and I know he’s doing a good job with the French team.”
Suaalii made headlines when he shunned the advances of Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga, who was hoping he would play on the wing for Australia, for a chance to wear the Samoan No.1 jumper.
There are those close to Suaalii who have claimed he deserves to be a starting fullback at club level with the Roosters but the player insists his decision to play for Samoa was based on emotion rather than positional preference.
“I picked with my heart, and my heart was saying play for Samoa,” he said.
“That was what I needed and I don’t take any notice of what anyone else says.”
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