The Pacific Championships started this past weekend with a number of Super League players in action, including one who has luckily escaped a ban but still been charged.
Fiji faced the Cook Islands in the second tier of the Pacific Championships, whilst New Zealand and Samoa went head to head in the top tier with Papua New Guinea and Tonga having the week off.
Two current Super League players and two incoming signings were in action and one of the current players has been perhaps fortunate to avoid a ban after being sent to the sin bin, with the incident also placed on report.
That was Huddersfield Giants’ Taane Milne with the centre actually playing in the second row for Fiji and that saw him apparently take on the role of enforcer, or so it seemed when he clattered a Cook Islands ball carrier high and with the shoulder.
The referee wasted no time in sending him for ten minutes but he also signaled that the incident was placed on report, meaning the judiciary panel were sure to look at it.
Despite that, Milne has escaped a ban but he has been docked a percent of his match fee with just one other charge being handed out for the men’s Pacific Championships. That went to New Zealand’s Isaiah Papali’i for a late shot on Jarome Luai. He’ll also be docked a percent of his match fee.
Pacific Championships Round One review
Milne’s sin bin was somewhat costly as the Cook Islands did score when they had the man advantage but Fiji had taken a 28-6 lead into half-time with Jahreem Bula scoring four, including a hat-trick inside 12 minutes.
As such, the Cook Islands try whilst Milne was off the field didn’t really threaten Fiji with the Bati going on to win the game 44-24. The Cook Islands will look to avoid a second defeat when they play Papua New Guinea this Saturday.
In the Pacific Cup, it was a far tighter affair with New Zealand winning 24-18 against Samoa in a brilliant match in Auckland.
Leading 16-12 at the half, the score was 18-18 with just over five minutes to go but Dylan Brown scored to put the hosts in front and secure a brilliant win that saw some of the sport’s greatest stars on show.
Payne Haas, in his first match for Samoa, played 79 minutes and made a whopping 52 tackles whilst former New Zealand dual-code international Roger Tuivasa-Sheck also played for Samoa, making over 225 metres.
Samoa will take on Tonga next week as New Zealand have the week off with Samoa knowing that a defeat could end their competition.
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