2023 Week 1 Pacific Championships - Teams and Game Day

[The Greenhouse]

57th min TRY AUSTRALIA to Hamiso Tabuai Fidow. No conversion.

Australia 32-6

[greeneyed]

Sualauvi Faalogo has been just terrific.

[gerg]

Sualauvi Faalogo has been just terrific.

Imagine having a player with raw speed and x factor? Wish we had a player like that.

[The Greenhouse]

73rd min TRY SAMOA to Luciano Leilua. Terrific try and Samoa have really done well to drag themselves back into competing set for set. Stephen Crichton converts.

Australia 32-12

[The Greenhouse]

80th min TRY AUSTRALIA to Kotoni Staggs from the scrum play, a kick ahead from Daly Cherry-Evans. Unfortunate way for the Test to end for Samoa, as they have done well since the 20 minute mark. Staggs converts his own try from out wide.

FULL TIME

Australia 38
Samoa 12

MATCH REPORT: Kangaroos flex their muscle to take down Samoa



The Kangaroos produced a withering four-try burst in the opening 15 minutes to set up a 38-12 win over Toa Samoa in Townsville on Saturday night.

With big men Payne Haas and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui leading the charge the Kangaroos blew the game open before their rivals had time to settle.

Read more: https://www.nrl.com/news/2023/10/14/kan ... own-samoa/







GALLERY: Australia v Samoa: https://www.gettyimages.com.au/photos/a ... =776020112

[RedRaider]

Australia just too good. The opening 20 minutes or so was all Australia. Samoa have a competitive side as proved in last years RLWC, but Australia are relentless. Well done to Mal and the players for gelling so quickly.

[dubby]

GH gets a mention in the Daily telegraph Riccio column



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[The Greenhouse]

Welcome to our coverage of today's Pacific Championships matches from the National Stadium in Port Moresby.

First up, the women's Test between Fetu Samoa and Fiji Bulikula. Raiders player Petesa Lio will line up at centre for Samoa, while Janelle Williams lines up at prop. Broadcast on Nine and Fox League. Live scores right here. Please join in with your own commentary. Kick off at 1:45pm AEDT.

Teams walking out onto the field now.

[The Greenhouse]

National anthems complete, now for the Fijian hymn and Samoan Siva Tau.

[The Greenhouse]

Samoa kick off in the very first Test match between these countries in women's rugby league. Very small crowd in attendance at present. 30C and 75 per cent humidity, so there are probably not a lot of people wanting to be sitting in the sun through both matches.

[The Greenhouse]

6th min TRY FIJI to winger Vitalina Naikore out wide off the scrum play. There are quite a few NRLW players representing in this match, but the pace and skill levels not quite up with the NRLW so far. No conversion from out wide.

Fiji 4-0

[The Greenhouse]

10th min Going to the video referee for a no try for Samoa's Destiny Brill. Pretty clearly held up. And that is confirmed.

[The Greenhouse]

11th min TRY SAMOA to winger Lindsay Tui out wide. Not the most fluent of back line moves, but it produces four points. No conversion.

Samoa 4
Fiji 4

[The Greenhouse]

22nd min TRY SAMOA to winger Taylor Mapusua in the corner after a good shift to the left. Converted Pauline Piliae-Rasabale.

Samoa 10-4

[The Greenhouse]

Fiji really struggling with their errors and combinations. Penalty 20 metres out, and they knock on at the ruck, second tackle.

[The Greenhouse]

32nd min TRY SAMOA to Annetta-Claudia Nu'uausala, just charges at the line from five metres out, grounds the ball right beside one of the posts. Pauline Piliae-Rasabale converts from in front. Plenty of NRLW players in the Samoan side, and it is showing.

Samoa 16-4

[The Greenhouse]

HALF TIME

Samoa 16
Fiji 4

[The Greenhouse]

We are back underway in the second half. And Fiji bomb a try in the corner, early.

[The Greenhouse]

44th min TRY SAMOA to winger Lindsay Tui in the corner, her second of the match. The result of a good shift to the right. Fiji missed a couple of try scoring opportunities at the other end, one was incorrectly called back for a forward pass. But Samoa first to score in the second half. No conversion.

Samoa 20-4

[The Greenhouse]

55th min TRY FIJI to winger Vitalina Naikore, her second of the match. Spectacular take of the kick to the corner. No conversion.

Samoa 20-8

[The Greenhouse]

58th min TRY FIJI to Aliti Namoce. Just got to the line and the video referee confirms the grounding. No conversion. Late flurry from Fiji.

Samoa 20-12

[The Greenhouse]

61st min Raiders player Petesa Lio has been sin binned for a professional foul, trying to stop a run from a quick penalty tap. Samoa will finish with 12 players.

[The Greenhouse]

69th min TRY SAMOA to winger Taylor Mapusua out wide. Her second try of the Test. And that's the ball game. Pauline Piliae-Rasabale converts from out wide, and there goes the full time hooter.

Samoa 26
Fiji 12

FULL TIME

MATCH REPORT: Fetu Samoa survive late comeback to beat Fiji Bulikula



Fetu Samoa kicked off a new era under the coaching of Jamie Soward in style on Sunday, holding off a strong finish from Fiji Bulikula to record a 26-12 victory.

The match, which was played on an afternoon in which temperatures reached 30°C at the National Football Stadium Port Moresby, ended a four-year wait between games for Fiji and was Samoa's first outing since 2020.

Read more: https://www.nrl.com/news/2023/10/15/fet ... -bulikula/

[The Greenhouse]

Now for the men's Test... and Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands teams walk out onto the field, side by side.

The national anthems are first up... and this doesn't look to be a sell out. Far from it really.

Cook Islands kick off, we are underway.

[The Greenhouse]

1st min Awful sight, with Cook Islands half Tevin Arona taken off on a stretcher, and in a neck brace.

[The Greenhouse]

4th min Going to the video for a no try for PNG. It is a clear double movement from hooker Rimbu. NO TRY.

And now the Cook Islands fail to find touch from the penalty.

[The Greenhouse]

8th min TRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA to centre Zac Laybutt. They stretched it from one side of the field to the other and the Kumuls have a two man overlap in the end. No conversion.

Papua New Guinea 4-0

[The Greenhouse]

13th min TRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA to winger Robert Derby. He was denied a try for a forward pass a couple of minutes ago. Lachlan Lam sets it in motion. Converted Zac Laybutt.

Papua New Guinea 10-0

[The Greenhouse]

16th min TRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA to Epel Kapinias. Ruled no try on field due to an apparent knock on in the grounding, but the video referee has ruled it was a fair try. Converted Zac Laybutt.

Papua New Guinea 16-0

[The Greenhouse]

23rd min TRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA to prop Valentine Richard under the posts. Just smashes through. Converted Zac Laybutt.

Papua New Guinea 22-0

[The Greenhouse]

27th min TRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA to Nene Macdonald in the corner, long pass from Lam sets it up. Looks a bit forward on replay. Laybutt doesn't convert from the sideline.

Papua New Guinea 26-0

[The Greenhouse]

40th min TRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA to Zac Laybutt. Liam Horne makes the half break, gets a great offload away to Alex Johnston, who sets up the try scorer. Best four pointer of the day. Laybutt can't convert his own try.

HALF TIME

Papua New Guinea 30
Cook Islands 0

[The Greenhouse]

We're back underway in the first half, and the Kumuls regather from a short kick off.

[The Greenhouse]

42nd min TRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA to Nene Macdonald. His second try of the afternoon. The Cook Islands can't defuse the kick and Macdonald simply plants the loose ball in the in goal. Zac Laybutt converts, good kick from out wide, into the wind.

Papua New Guinea 36-0

[The Greenhouse]

43rd min TRY PAPUA NEW GUINEA to Nene Macdonald. Rimbu makes a huge break up the middle and Macdonald backs up for a hat trick. Laybutt converts from in front.

Papua New Guinea 42-0