Papua New Guinea push England in RL World Cup opener
October 26, 2008
Papua New Guinea have come out in their opening game of the rugby league World Cup and shown they are no easy beats. Many expected the English team to run over the top of the Kumuls.
The English team were first to score after a move out wide on the right that saw Ade Gardner dive over after a short flat pass from the English hooker. A sideline conversion from Sinfield made the score 6-0.
Papua New Guinea hit back shortly after as a strong run by the no. 13 Rod Griffin saw him crash over near the posts. The conversion saw the teams level at 6-6. England were next to score as Lee Smith making his debut scored his first of three tries.
The Kumuls would then score twice on the right side of the field to take a 16-12 lead into the halftime break.
As the second half started it was interesting to see how England would handle the expectations of getting the win. As it turned out Papua New Guinea ran out of steam and England outscored them 20 points to six to secure a 32-22 win.
It was a good opening match and showed that some of the lesser known teams can match it for a while with the top three in world rugby league.
In what could be a prelude to the final Australia take on New Zealand on Sunday night.
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