Papua New Guinea are preparing for an historic trip to Scotland for the Rugby League Commonwealth Championship next week. It will be first time a PNG junior representative team will have left the Pacific for an international tournament and the Kumuls see it as a major step towards uncovering their next generation of stars and preparing for the next big event on their calendar.
"The participation of the PNG squad in the Commonwealth Championships in Glasgow is an important step for us,” explains PNGRFL chief executive Brad Tassell. “It’s the main tournament being used to not only test our group of development players against top quality international competition, but it’s also vital as a lead up tournament in preparation for the South Pacific Games to held in PNG in 2015.Rugby League Nines has been included in the South Pacific Games for the first time, it’s a feature sport and PNG is expected to compete for the gold medal.”
PNG will be fielding its best possible line-up for the South Pacific Games with players drawn from the domestic, Australian and European professional competitions, joined by the most exciting young talent emerging from the island. The trip to Glasgow is a major test for them.
“It’s vital we identify talented youth from 17 to 19 years of age to compete in an international tournament, to gauge their performance in the Nines concept so they can be considered for selection in the national squad next year,” explains Tassell, whose brother Kris starred for Wales in the 2000 World Cup. “It’s also a vital step forward in our ongoing development through the Team Kumul program to identify talent and provide elite training and international competition leading into the next Rugby League World Cup in 2017. PNG will host matches or even an entire pool in 2017.”
Most of the players selected by PNG have been part of their schoolboys programme over the past two years and were identified at an early age. “They have already been involved in elite camps and international competitions, have a very strong mind-set and know what is expected from them in regards to attitude, conduct and performance to reach a high level. Some players were identified at the trials because of their physical attributes.”
A major development for PNG rugby league this year is the inclusion of the new SP PNG Hunters team in the Intrust Super Cup, previously known as the Queensland Cup, where they are playing weekly fixtures against teams just one level below the NRL.
“Rugby League is undergoing a revolution in PNG,” claims Tassell. “At the forefront are the PNGRFL's Intrust Super Cup and Team Kumul Programs. The Hunters is a full-time, elite, high performance programme providing the opportunity for PNG players based in PNG to play at the highest level possible week in and week out.”
One of the Hunters squad members, Stanton Albert, is in the PNG squad for Glasgow. At 6ft 1in and 108kg, the younger brother of Penrith Panthers pro Wellington Albert will not go unnoticed.
Two other players - Warren Glare and Nickson Borana - are currently playing with the Lae Snax Tigers in the PNG National competition, the Digicel Cup, and will be hoping to break into the Hunters squad soon.
The Junior Kumuls have replaced Toware Kaneke with Eliakim Lukara, an 18-year-old centre from Kimbie who plays in the New Guinea Papua New Guinea Islands Zone School Boys Rugby League.
In the RLCC2014 tournament at Cumbernauld’s Broadwood Stadium in North Lanarkshire, which is part of the Homecoming Scotland festival of events, PNG are in Group B where they will face Canada, South Africa and England on Friday 27 June.
They will return the next day for the play-offs and semi-finals stage. Entry on both days is FREE.
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