{"id":255048,"date":"2025-11-01T08:23:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T08:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255048\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T08:23:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T08:23:16","slug":"the-eye-catching-nrl-auditions-in-pngs-dominant-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255048\/","title":{"rendered":"The eye-catching NRL auditions in PNG’s dominant win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Papua New Guinea have unleashed a point-scoring spree on Fiji to retain the Pacific Bowl and celebrate a milestone day in their nation’s journey to the NRL.<\/p>\n

In an utter domination in Port Moseby, PNG’s national side posted a half-century against a Pacific rival for the first time in 16 years with a 50-18 win over the Bati.<\/p>\n

The victory came as Saturday marked exactly one year to the day from when PNG’s historic NRL franchise, the Chiefs, can start negotiating with contracted talent for their 2028 entry.<\/p>\n

To build a roster capable of competing, Chiefs officials are going to need to sign the bulk of their talent from rival clubs.<\/p>\n

Alex Johnston will be a target, already given an exemption by South Sydney to begin negotiating with the Chiefs and become their first signing.<\/p>\n

Nene Macdonald could also eye a comeback to the NRL, starring on Saturday with a try and two assists for the Kumuls.<\/p>\n

But this was a victory that also showed the green shoots of talent already emerging through the PNG system.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

Plenty of PNG players put forward a strong case for why the nation’s NRL team should sign them up. (HANDOUT\/NRL PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Of the PNG Kumuls’ side on Saturday, 12 were under the age 30 while eight were 25 or younger.<\/p>\n

Eye-catching five-eighth Gairo Voro has been one of the stories of this post-season, and he was again electric against Fiji.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old was in everything and his speed was on show when he picked up a loose ball, created space and sent Macdonald over for his try in the first half.<\/p>\n

Gold Coast teenager Cooper Bai also crossed once when he charged through defenders from close to the line, while 24-year-old fullback Morea Morea also turned heads.<\/p>\n

Hooker Edwin Ipape, aged 26, was another PNG player who looked impressive in the win over Fiji.<\/p>\n

A dummy-half for Leigh in the Super League, he threw a flick pass in the lead up to Macdonald’s try, hit Bai on the chest for his and then scored one of his own.<\/p>\n

So good were PNG early, they led 24-0 after 21 minutes and barely gave Fiji a look in.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

Tui Kamikamica suffered a concussion during Fiji’s lopsided loss. (HANDOUT\/NRL PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

By that point, the Bati had already lost their best forward in Melbourne’s Tui Kamikamica to a concussion after 13 minutes.<\/p>\n

Fiji were finally able to get on the board when Taane Milne put Kitione Kautoga over, \u00a0but by then the visitors trailed 30-0.<\/p>\n

And while Parramatta second-rower Kautoga got another try after the break, the Bati were never really in the contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Papua New Guinea have unleashed a point-scoring spree on Fiji to retain the Pacific Bowl and celebrate a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,3739,761,762,158,27284,15560,85,99646,150690],"class_list":{"0":"post-255048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fiji","11":"tag-national-rugby-league","12":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","13":"tag-nrl","14":"tag-papua-new-guinea","15":"tag-png","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-the-chiefs","18":"tag-the-kumuls"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}