​Chairman of the National Football stadium (NFS) Trustees board and managing director of Oil Search Peter Botten (pictured) has praised the performance of the PNG LNG Kumuls and the NFS venue.
With the venue successfully hosting one of its highest profile events to date, Botten said the jubilant crowd was broadcasted all over the world and got great reviews overseas.
He said Saturday’s game had set a great platform to portray Papua New Guinea to the world.
“That telecast was beamed around the world. I have had a lot of texts from people in the UK, saying ‘hey this is Moresby at its best and we, never thought how good it would be,” Botten said.
“The crowd was magnificent and I think the stadium performed excellent and fantastic advert of the partnership with the government.”
“Oil Search and PNG rugby league about what can be done in Papua New Guinea but the kumuls were just outstanding and the crowd, let me tell you, I felt so proud to see them enjoy it in a safe, great environment.”
Botten said with two games to go and the good health of the national coach confirmed, the signs are looking good for the national team.
“We can go into the next game confident but not complacent.”
He also elaborated a vital fact in the impression the venue and game has given to the Welsh visitors as much as it has done for the country.
“I can tell you the Welsh were just so complementary of the stadium, the facilities, and the crowd and the whole experience of Papua New Guinea.
“So, we have now got ambassadors going back to Wales and I am sure Ireland and the US will say that PNG is a great place to come and the PNG people are great people, we really play good rugby league.” Post Courier 

​National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop (pictured) is confident the PNG Kumuls will beat Ireland and USA with runaway score lines.
Parkop told the Post-Courier after PNG beat Wales on Saturday, that it was an exceptional game that saw great defence and attack put up by the Kumuls.
“They did us proud. It was a great day today (Saturday) given that Wales are ranked 9th and Kumuls on 16th and they have beaten us by similar scores in our past three outings against them.
“Sweet victory and sweet revenge…this is the spirit we needed for our city and our country to leverage sports especially our national games to achieve more beyond the field,” he said.
Parkop said sports has the ability to unite the people and the nation by providing a platform for the young people to lift their self esteem, develop positive values and attitudes and find their place in life.
“As one of the major sponsors for the three World Cup Games, I am proud and happy the Kumuls have redeemed our position in the rugby league ratings and I am planning to go to the semis in Sydney in late November.
“Bring on the Kiwis and Kangaroos. I am super confident the Kumuls will beat Ireland and USA by a bigger score.
“Wales was the team I was more concerned about due to their ranking but with a score like that Ireland and USA should be easy beats,” he said.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has congratulated the PNG Kumuls for their historic win.
The PM who led half of the cabinet to watch the World Cup game has also thanked the coaching staff for an excellent win.
“Very good win by our national team and our appreciation and congratulations to the players and coaching staff for an excellent team,” O’Neill said.
He also thanked all the other NRL players, the PNG and non-PNG for their best performance.
PNG Kumuls have created history 1991 – Wales 68 vs PNG 0, 2001 Wales 22 vs PNG 8, 2007 Wales 50 vs PNG 10 and 2017 PNG 50 vs Wales 6. Post Courier

Below is the live coverage for PNG Kumuls v Welsh Dragons Rugby League World Cup match. The game will be played today at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby at 3:00 pm local time. Follow the twitter news feed for updates .

​Mount Hagen born Amelia Kuk has been included in the Oil Search PNG Orchids squad.
The 24 year old debuted for the Australian Jillaroos in last month’s curtain raiser to the PNG PM XIII vs Australia PM XIII game against the PNG Orchids in Port Moresby. She unfortunately missed out in selection into the Australian team.
“We contacted her and she was over the moon to join the PNG Orchids,” coach Dennis Miall said.
“She was here last month and got on well with the PNG Orchids so she will not be new to the players. Her inclusion brings that experience to our side,” the coach said.
Kuk when contacted in Brisbane said: “I was over the moon when the coach called to say that I was selected in the PNG team,” Kuk said.
“I am proud to represent my country and look forward to joining the camp next week.” Kuk joins fellow Queenslander Jazmyn Taumafai as the two overseas players into the PNG side. “Taumafai cemented her spot with an impressive performance in last Friday’s 30 – 6 win over Far North Queensland All Stars in Innisfail,” Miall said. They are among a 24-member Oil Search PNG Orchids squad that was named yesterday by PNG Rugby Football League chairman Sandis Tsaka for the 2017 Women’s Rugby League World Cup.
The team was finalised by coach Dennis Miall following last weekend’s warm up match in Innisfail, Australia. “This is the first time our women rugby league team will participate in a World Cup event and we wish them all the best as they represent PNG. We are grateful for the support from Oil Search Ltd who are the inaugural partners to this national side,” Tsaka said. Oil Search Managing Director Peter Botten said as a proud PNG company, Oil Search was delighted to be associated with the Orchids in their campaign at the World Cup. “Oil Search as a proud PNG company is pleased to be associated with the Orchids as they participate in the Women’;s Rugby League World Cup for the first time.
“The matches will be played in Sydney and we will give every support to the team whilst they are in Sydney,” Botten said. “Coming off a win in Innisfail last weekend, their first game away in Australia shows that the women are ready to take on the world. We will be right behind them all the way.” The squad will assemble in Port Moresby next week to prepare for the Women’s Rugby League World Cup which kicks off in Sydney on November 16, 2017.

​The Papua New Guinea LNG Kumuls team has been named to face Wales on Saturday at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby. Coach Michael Marum named a strong 21-man squad.

1 David MEAD (c)
2 Justin OLAM
3 Kato OTTIO
4 Nene MACDONALD
5 Garry LO
6 Ase BOAS
7 Watson BOAS
8 Stanton ALBERT
9 Wartovo PUARA
10 Luke PAGE
11 Rhyse MARTIN
12 Rod GRIFFIN
13 Paul AITON
14 Kurt BAPTISTE
15 Willie MINOGA
16 James SEGEYARO
17 Enock MAKI
18 Lachlan LAM
19 Stargroth AMEAN
20 Wellington ALBERT
21 Moses MENINGA

Nick Campton,
The Daily Telegraph

The strides Papua New Guinean rugby league has taken in the last few years alone are quite staggering.
The PNG Hunters’ victory in the Queensland Cup grand final can be counted as one of the finest days in rugby league’s history for that country, and perhaps as one of their greatest wins in any sport.
Forget what you saw at ANZ Stadium on NRL grand final day, when the overmatched Hunters were flattened out mentally. Their achievement the week before, the performance of rugby league in Papua New Guinea is finally matching the passion.
Rugby league law dictates I must divulge the well know fact that rugby league is the national sport in Papua New Guinea, but the stories of the locals’ hunger for the game are well known. The love for the code in that part of the world is intense beyond almost anything you’ll ever see in Australia.
Converting passion to progress has always been the challenge for PNG.
The trick has always been to harness that devotion and channel, while navigating a thousand and one other challenges that have no established solution because there is nowhere else in the rugby league world like PNG.
More than 800 different languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea. It remains a developing country and one of the least explored nations in the world. Lack of resources, funds, disorganisation and infighting have plagued PNG rugby league since they played their first match against England in 1975.
For most of the 40 years since, the story’s remained the same. Plenty of passion, emotion and bruising tackles. Always a force to be reckoned with at home. But a lack of exposure to elite rugby league environments always cut their legs out from under them. Heart can only take you so far.
The Kumuls have scored wins over New Zealand (1986) and Great Britain (1990), but they also went from 2000 to 2016 without winning a game away from home and have been outscored in their last four matches against Australia 224-18. A lack of regular fixtures means they’re ranked 15th in the world and are therefore the second lowest ranked team in the World Cup.
The Hunters have changed the game in Papua New Guinea.
But the knock-on impact of the Hunters is already being felt in the national side. The Kumuls have won their last two Tests, against Fiji in 2016 and the Cook Islands earlier this year.
The Hunters have provided 10 players for this year’s World Cup squad and four other players began their careers at the club before taking up deals with NRL, Super League or other Queensland Cup sides.
Papua New Guinea have only made the knockout stages of the World Cup once. But this is the best team they’ve ever assembled, certainly the team with the most exposure to elite football programs, training methods and matches.
The NRL contingent of skipper David Mead, centre Nene Macdonald and hookers James Segeyaro and Kurt Baptiste gives them craft and firepower. State Cup stalwarts Luke Page, Rod Griffin, Rhyse Martin and Super League veteran Paul Aiton lead a hard-nosed and grizzled forward pack.
Expect brilliant crowds for all three matches in Port Moresby.
Winger Garry Lo is poised to join Super League side Castleford after dazzling for Sheffield Eagles over the past two seasons. Another outside back, the towering Kato Ottio, scored 29 tries in 23 games with Canberra Raiders feeder club Mounties in 2016 and will push for an NRL debut next season.
Of the Hunters’ contingent, the star performers are rangy fullback Stargroth Amean, impact utility Willie Minoga and the Boas brothers, who formed a dynamic scrumbase combination for club and country over the last two seasons. The Boas boys hail from Kokopo, on the island of New Britain. Their home games for the Agmark Rabaul Gurias were played in the shadows of Tavurvur, an active volcano that last erupted in 2014.
Halfback Watson Boas enjoyed a fine season and scored a try in the grand final victory over the Sunshine Coast Falcons and five-eighth Ase Boas was the Hunters’ best player.
The Kumuls will be favourites in all three of their group games.
In picking up The Courier-Mail’s Queensland Cup player of the year award and winning man of the match in the grand final, Ase Boas proved he’s one of the top players outside of rugby league’s elite competitions and he could be playing for a possible NRL contract in this World Cup. A compact, powerful runner with a good turn of pace and an excellent short-kicking game, Boas is also a deadeyed goalkicker and is David Mead’s deputy.
Boas is one of the Hunters’ biggest success stories and the Kumuls are poised to produce players of his calibre for years to come. After just four seasons, the impact of the Hunters has helped the Kumuls name their strongest World Cup squad ever.
David Mead will captain PNG in his third World Cup.
With all three group matches at home, PNG will be heavily favoured against Wales, Ireland and the USA. A quarter-finals berth should be the goal, which would mark just the second time in PNG history they’ve escaped the group stages.
Progress in international footy is always slow but the strides the Kumuls have made over the last few years are monumental. Mastering the chaos of rugby league in the country that loves it most is close to impossible — but channelling that passion into the proper avenues is a challenge worth undertaking, and one that will pay off in the long run for PNG.
SQUAD: Six players in the PNG squad have NRL experience but only two (winger Garry Lo and halfback Lachlan Lam) are playing at a level below Super League or NSW/Queensland Cup. The Kumuls have never had this kind of experience and cohesion in a World Cup before, despite playing only two Tests over the last two years. Kumuls coach Michael Marum also leads the Hunters on a weekly basis and has intimate knowledge of the 10 local players selected in the squad. Of particular interest is how Marum will handle dummy half — veteran Paul Aiton, the returning James Segeyaro and Canberra livewire Kurt Baptiste will compete for the job with clever Hunters man Wartovo Puara Jr.
Best XVII: 1. David Mead 2. Nene Macdonald 3. Thompson Teteh 4. Justin Olam 5. Kato Ottio 6. Ase Boas 7. Watson Boas 8. Stanton Albert 9. James Segeyaro 10. Luke Page 11. Rhyse Martin 12. Rod Griffin 13. Paul Aiton 14. Kurt Baptiste 15. Moses Meninga 16. Wellington Albert 17. Willie Minoga
Random PNG fact: From 1996 until 2005 the Kumuls were coached by Bob Bennett, brother of Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett.
Prediction: Everything is set up for PNG to claim a spot in the knockout stages. Wales, Ireland and the USA will all travel to Port Moresby for the three group matches and the fanatical home crowd will no doubt lend the Kumuls a tremendous advantage. They’ll be warm favourites in all three games and should they win their group they’ll take on the runners up of Group A in Melbourne in the quarterfinals — we’re expecting that to be England. Look for the Kumuls to push the Poms hard and go down swinging in a physical encounter.​

​THE first Rugby League World Cup match at the Oil Search National Football Stadium between Papua New Guinea and Wales is only eight days away.
The Wales team are scheduled to arrive in Port Moresby on Tuesday (Oct 24) and host city chief executive officer Tasman Samuel says preparations to receive the Welsh are set. Samuel said that they would have the traditional land owners of Port Moresby, the Motu-Koitabuans, welcome the visiting sides when they arrive at the airport.
Ireland and USA are the other two teams who will play the PNG LNG Kumuls at the NFS over the coming weeks.
“There will be civic receptions held the same evening to formally welcome the teams to PNG,” Samuel said.
“The British High Commission will host the Welsh, the Australian High Commission will host the Irish when they come and the US Embassy will host the US team on the second night the Hawks are here. “The Australian High Commission has come forward to host the Irish in the absence of an Irish diplomatic presence in PNG and also Australia is the lead host nation in the hosting of this Rugby League World Cup.
“On match days, the Tourism Promotion Authority will provide cultural dancers from the 22 provinces to perform as pre-match entertainment. And we sincerely thank TPA for their initiative to come on board to provide what will be a spectacular array of PNG culture on show.”
Regarding the capacity of the stadium, Tasman said since the Oil Search National Football Stadium had a capacity of 15000,  broadcast partners EM TV and TV Wan will telecast matches live.

​THE Papua New Guinea Orchids are looking to improve their game and gain valuable experience in their first overseas fixture in Innisfail, Queensland, tomorrow.
The match against a North Queensland women’s invitational side will also serve as the curtainraiser to the Tonga-Italy rugby league World Cup warm-up game.
The Oil Search-sponsored side coached by Dennis Miall fly to Cairns today armed with a positive mind set and with two new inclusions into their squad.
Queensland forward Jazmyn Taumafai and Southern region utility Delilah Ahose were added to the squad on Tuesday.
PNG Orchids captain Cathy Neap said the feeling in camp was positive and the women were excited about their first trip overseas.
“Because it is our first time, I think most of us feel a little under pressure, but we are helping each other,” Neap said.
“We are trying to lift our standard that is expected of a national team. At this stage I think it’s a learning curve and the girls have been doing really great trying to pick themselves up and reach that expected standard.
“Training has been active and fast. David Westley (former Kumul) has brought in a lot of value to our training.
“He’s got the experience of playing, coaching and training.
“I think we are privileged to have someone like him.”
Neap said one of their main challenges was time management.
“David has been helping us to consider and apply time management to our training which is important because it will benefit us on and off the field,” the 28-year old said.
Neap singled out defence as the area they wanted to make big improvements in.
The Orchids were beaten 42-6 by the Australian Jillaroos in their first international fixture last month in Port Moresby but Neap was upbeat about her side’s development.
“We plan to improve more on our defence, how to move together as a team with our line speed up and then holding the line in defence.
“We have some old habits which we carry on from the way we were coached and play at the club level but David has brought to us important technical stuff which can change the way we play and help us become more competitive,” she said.
PNG Orchids: Elvinah Aason, Joan Kuman, Christie Bulhage, Naomi Kaupa, Martha Karl, Shirley Joe, Fay Sogavo, Maima Wei, Delailah Ahose, Brenda Goro, Cathy Neap (C), Carol Humeu, Della Audama, Janet Michael, Akosita Baru, Vero Waula, Anne Oiufa, Helen Abau, Jazmyn Taumafai; Dennis Miall (coach). The National

​FORMER Papua New Guinea rugby league representative Clement Mou says the PNG Kumuls are a team to be proud of and should make it through the pool stage at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
Mou, 56, from Lese, Gulf, commended coach Michael Marum for shaping the side into a competitive unit and one that could win games and advance.
“We’ve got a good mixture of local players and overseas-based players and that gives us a competitive egde,” Mou said.
“The coach Marum, local selectors and as well as the PNG Rugby Football League chairman Sandis Tsaka have done a tremendous job to put this team together to represent PNG.
“We should all be proud of the players and team management as they represent the pride of PNG with three games at home at the National Football Stadium.
“There is no time to criticise the players and team management but to encourage and support them to the fullest,” the former centre said.
“I’ll be there to give my moral support with these three important matches on our home turf.
“We have the players who can make the difference and help us make the quarterfinals and anything can happen after that. We might even make the semifinals.
“I’m happy James Segeyaro decided to play for PNG too as I played with his father.”
Mou played with Segeyaro’s father Iffysoe during the 1980s and he was proud to see the son emulate his father.
He said the selection of Segeyaro was a must for the Kumuls to be competitive against the best sides. The National

​The Papua New Guinea LNG Kumuls lead-up training, coaching and administrative preparations leading into the 2017 Rugby League World Cup are positive.
Yesterday, a media tour organised by PNG Rugby League (PNGRFL) and senior PNG LNG Kumuls coaching staff was a first of its kind experience for local journalists and photographers.
One of the coaching staff and Lae Snax Tigers coach Stanley Tepend and former Kumuls player and one of PNG’s rugby league icons John Wilshere were present to coordinate the tour.
The Gateway Hotel is home to the Kumuls training, administrative and accommodation offering a state-of-the-art facilities as a lead-up preparation for the national rugby league team.
“All lead up preparation for the Kumuls leading into the 2017 Rugby League World Cup is being housed here at Gateway Hotel. We are pleased with the hotel management, including other corporate sponsors for their support,” said Tepend when briefing media personnel during the tour.
The inclusion of former Kumuls John Wilshere and Marcus Bai is also another positive boost for the national team with the duo adding their representative and rugby league experience into the team’s preparations.
“It is a busy schedule for the players, training and commitments to the communities, media and it is a big job we are trying to manage,” said Wilshere.
“The core of the coaching staff including former Kumuls players we think it is extremely important. We are prepared for international tournaments like the Rugby League World Cup.”
Wilshere reiterated that they (former Kumuls players) have had big game experiences. It will be good to have them in camp so that can impart their knowledge and experience to prepare for big games,
“Every World Cup is different and the difference is that we (PNG) are hosting three pool matches,” he said.
Wilshere and Bai also said the heavy loss against Wales will not be a pressing concern for the national team, adding lead-up preparation look positive.
“Coming back home and playing for PNG, we are always confident and it is not a fluke that the boys have performed in Fiji, the performance of PNG SP Hunters under coach Michael Marum and now overseas-based players is a boost for us, ex-players who are now part of the coaching staff,” former Kumul, Melbourne Storm and English Super League player Bai said.
“If you are real men to do it in front of the home crowd then this is the challenge from us the coaching staff and everybody in the villages of PNG to see these boys perform,” reiterated Bai when giving comments on how confident he is in terms of Kumuls hosting the three 2017 Rugby League World Cup pool matches.
PNG LNG Kumuls coach Michael Marum and captain David Mead will leave for Brisbane for a captain and coaches tournament media launch in Brisbane.
Meanwhile, the full PNG LNG team is in full camp in preparation for the first 2017 Rugby League World Cup pool C match with Wales on Saturday October 28 at the Oil Search National Football Stadium in Port Moresby. Post Courier