This series put the three higher ranked nations in the Pacific Cup competition and the three lower ranked sides in the Pacific Bowl competition. Tonga was touring England so they were not part of this.
Pacific Cup: Australia, New Zealand, Samoa.
Pacific Bowl: Cook Islands, Fiji, PNG.
Pacific Cup:
Australia 38-12 Samoa. First up were the hosts against Manu Samoa in a repeat of the World Cup grand final a year previously. they quickly took control of the fixture, leading 28-6 when the oranges appeared. It was closer in the second half but the Kangaroos were never at risk of losing this one.
New Zealand 50-0 Samoa. The Kiwis have assembled a strong squad and while Manu Samoa is competitive (they made last year's World Cup final), they were blown off the park in this meeting. The half time score was 18-0. Most of the spectators were supporting Samoa so not even getting a score was no doubt disappointing for them.
Australia 36-18 New Zealand. In what was a tightly fought match, the Kangaroos were ahead just 18-12 at the break. It remained close until the Aussies scored two tries in the final three minutes to pull away.
Final: New Zealand 30-0 Australia. The Kiwis hosted the final in Hamilton. NZ controlled the half well to lead 12-0 by halftime. Any hope of the usual Kangaroo's comeback didn't materialise. Instead, the Kiwis upped the ante and gave Australia their heaviest defeat ever!
To see extended highlights of the final Pacific Cup match:
Pacific Bowl:
PNG 46-10 Cook Is. The match was played in Port Moresby and by half time it was already 30-0 to the Kumuls. A few minutes into the second half and it was 42-0 but after that it was a close contest but by then the horse had already bolted.
Fiji 22-18 Cook Islands. I was expecting Fiji Bati to be too strong for the Kukis but it was a very close game. The Cooks led 18-16 with six minutes to go but a late try got the Bati home.
Fiji 43-16 PNG. I was expecting home ground advantage and quality to tip the game the PNG Kumuls's way. Instead the Bati lead 19-4 at the turn around after conceding first points. In the second stanza, Fiji raced to a 35-4 lead which ended the Kumul's hopes.
Final: PNG 32-12 Fiji. The Kumuls raced to a 26-0 halftime lead which was quite the opposite of last week. The second half was a more even contest but never really in doubt.
To see extended highlights of the final Pacific Cup match:
2 comments:
Australia did play Samoa: https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/pacific-championships-2023/game-1/australia-vs-samoa.html
Thanks for that. I missed the first week of the competition, busy elsewhere. I've updated the article accordingly.
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