{"id":646755,"date":"2026-10-31T09:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/646755\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T09:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:24:11","slug":"kiwi-ferns-v-png-new-zealand-top-rugby-league-world-cup-group-with-big-win-over-tough-orchids-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/646755\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwi Ferns v PNG: New Zealand top Rugby League World Cup group with big win over tough Orchids side"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Papua New Guinea appeared to learn from the Fiji match and looked to put the Kiwi Ferns under pressure from the start. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The Black ferns had to come from behind to beat Papua New Guinea. Photo \/ Photosport\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The Black ferns had to come from behind to beat Papua New Guinea. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">An early Stacey Waaka try was quickly cancelled out by a four-pointer from Tia Molo and a conversion from Emily Veivers had PNG ahead after 10 minutes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">The Kiwi Ferns hit back again through Mackenzie Wiki, but PNG put themselves back in the lead through a try from Elsie Albert. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">The Kiwi Ferns also learned from their tournament opener and didn\u2019t wait until the second half to stamp their authority on the match. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Kaiyah Atai ended the first half by bursting through a gaping hole in the Orchids\u2019 defence, while Zahara Temara obliged with the conversion to give the Kiwi Ferns a two-point lead at halftime. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Otesa Pule started the second half off with a bang, taking the ball just inside her own half and using her strength and speed to stretch away from defenders and plant the ball for another try. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">New Zealand continued to be clinical and found plenty of freedom down their left flank to extend their lead against a PNG side that continued to show grit and determination throughout the match.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The Kiwi Ferns won all three of the pool games at the Rugby League World Cup. Photo \/ Getty Images\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The Kiwi Ferns won all three of the pool games at the Rugby League World Cup. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Wiki, Leianne Tufuga and two Abigail Roche tries put the game out of reach for the Orchids, while Temara found her range by slotting three second half conversions. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">The Kiwi Ferns were heading to the semi-finals no matter the result, but a test like this from an improved Papua New Guinea side has provided an excellent tune up for whoever comes next. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Keeping their opposition scoreless in the second half has shown how the team has slowly progressed throughout the tournament and thrown memories of their close encounter against to the wayside. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Up next comes Samoa who put in a strong 24-6 victory over England and an enormous 76-0 win against Wales in their pool games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Kiwi Ferns 40 (Stacey Waaka, Mackenzie Wiki 2, Kaiyah Atai, Otesa Pule, Leianne Tufuga, Abigail Roche 2 tries; Zahara Temara 4 con).<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Papua New Guinea Orchids 12 (Tia Molo, Elsie Albert tries; Emily Veivers cons)<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">HT: 14-12<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/author\/ben-francis\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/author\/ben-francis\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Papua New Guinea appeared to learn from the Fiji match and looked to put the Kiwi Ferns under&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8834,10542,10541,209,194,14731,117,111,43,139,69,316970,1523,219782,6327,6102,3010,13983,6027,102,377,80],"class_list":["post-646755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-big","tag-cup","tag-ferns","tag-group","tag-kiwi","tag-league","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-orchids","tag-over","tag-png","tag-rugby","tag-side","tag-top","tag-tough","tag-win","tag-with","tag-world","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}