29 Sep 2008

Papua New Guinea prepare for world cup after thrashing at hands of Australia at weekend

12:04 pm on 29 September 2008

An Australian Prime Minister's XIII rugby league side has completed a 54-30 rout of Papua New Guinea.

Led by skipper Nathan Hindmarsh, the Australian team scored 10 tries to six in an entertaining and fiery encounter at Lloyd Robson Oval that saw more than 5000 pack the tiny stadium.

Parramatta winger Jarryd Hayne and Wests Tigers youngster Chris Lawrence both bagged doubles while PNG's co-captain Stanley Gene also scored twice, his second coming on the final hooter.

Australia were held to a respectable 22-16 halftime lead before a dominant final second stanza.

The result was in stark contrast to last year's game when the Australians surrendered a halftime lead in the 24-all draw.

Meanwhile, PNG coach Adrian Lam says the team will take a week off now before embarking on preparations for next months World Cup in Australia.

"Then we have our PNG international match which is PNG origin game which is what we select the squad off and from there we go straight into camp and prepare and bunker down I suppose no it will come pretty quickly as it always does we're just looking foward now to the best squad we can."

Papua New Guinea will play Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand in the World Cup pool play.

Meanwhile, PNG police have been accused of being heavy handed after firing warning shots into the air and hitting some fans with sticks and metal bars as they tried to control some of the 200 fans who had broken through the barbed wire fence.