Maika Sivo hasn’t seen his parents in more than three years but that’s all about to change when the Fijian family reunite for the NRL Telstra Premiership grand final on Sunday. Sivo’s parents Joeli and Mere will make the mad dash from their small village in Momi, a 40-minute drive from Nadi in Fiji, to watch their son play in person for the first time since 2019. It will be an emotional occasion for the family, who have mourned the loss of Sivo’s younger brother Luva for the past 12 months after he tragically passed away aged 13. Eels teammates Clint Gutherson, Mitchell Moses, Reed Mahoney and Nathan Brown met Joeli, Mere and Luva after visiting the village during the Prime Minister’s XIII visit in 2019. “Dad called me [last week] and said he and Mum will come watch the grand final if we made it,” Sivo told NRL.com. “He was confident he will see me when he called so now it’s about trying to get them over here as soon as possible. I’m so happy they want to come over and watch. I’ll get the club to help organise it. [caption id="attachment_27351" align="alignnone" width="840"] players Nathan Brown, Clint Gutherson, Mitchell Moses and Reed Mahoney with Sivo's mother Mere and late brother Luva at their family village in 2019.[/caption] “They don’t like to leave the village too much, especially mum. I haven’t been able to go home because of the border closures and my injury last year. “My cousins might want to come too but it will good to have mum and dad at least.” Sivo’s life has changed remarkably in the three years since Joeli last surprised his son in August of that year when he first visited Australia. The 28-year-old has gone on to become one of the most powerful wingers in the game with 67 tries in 82 games and made it a tradition for Eels fans to chant his name at CommBank Stadium. He’s represented his native Fiji on three occasions while going through the rollercoaster of Luva's passing and ACL injury last season. In March, he and partner Korina welcomed their first child, son Isaiah, into the world – creating another first for Sivo’s family this week to meet their grandson. “When dad came in 2019 I couldn’t believe it, he surprised me out of nowhere, and then when Gutho and the boys went to visit my village it meant a lot to me," Sivo said. "Having them at the grand final on Sunday will be amazing. All the boys are pumped, we’re excited. Many people said we couldn’t match the weather [in Townsville] but it felt like home to me." Sivo will wait and see how usual centre partner Tom Opacic pulls up from a potential return from a hamstring injury ahead of Sunday's decider against his former club but has full faith in Bailey Simonsson to repeat his preliminary final efforts. The Eels left edge were dominant against the Cowboys with Shaun Lane overcoming a poke in the eye early to help set up Sivo for a vital try. "Bailey was good to play alongside, we were talking all night with him and on our edge and made good decisions in defence throughout the game," Sivo said. "I’m not sure where Tommy is at but he will be close to playing." Source: NRL.com

Prime Minister James Marape’s four-nation visit – that includes meetings with a king and three heads of government, and an address to the United Nations – is taking Papua New Guinea’s trade and business interest to the next level. This is as Prime Minister Marape works at expanding PNG’s bi-lateral relations from the traditionally political and social one that often concentrated on donor aid to strategic economic relations where the focus is on specific areas of trade and investment as he negotiates at the highest level directly with heads of governments. As he did last year when PM Marape visited China and sold 3 million metric tonnes of gas from Papua LNG to Sinopec through his negotiations with the Chinese government, the value of discussions at the prime ministerial level is always the highest. On Sunday (250922), Prime Minister Marape was in Australia to meet with his Australian counterpart Hon. Tony Albanese after delivering his country statement on Thursday (220922) at the 77th United Nations General Assembly that was very well-received by Papua New Guineans back home. Before that, PM Marape was in the United Kingdom to attend the funeral of late Queen Elizabeth II where he met with King Charles III. As the prime ministers of PNG and Australia acquainted over the Prime Ministers XIII rugby league match at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon, they also took the opportunity to discuss labour mobility covering TVET, nursing and labour hires – needs that Australia currently has that PNG can fill. “The Australian Prime Minister and I watched the Prime Ministers XIII and had a bilateral meeting as a prelude to our PNG-Australia ministerial meetings that will take place in Canberra, as well as when the Australian PM visits PNG in December,” said PM Marape. “In the last three years, we have elevated PNG-Australia relations to the highest level we can go. This is encapsulated in the Comprehensive Strategic Economic Partnership between us and Australia. “This partnership involves areas of trade and economic arrangements that now includes the recruitment of labour and Papua New Guineans working in Australia in terms of the skills we can provide to Australia, and Australia picking up our products from PNG. “So we have now elevated our relationship from a political and social level and aid/donor type of arrangements to strategic economic relationship. “Australia has been buying from us, and we focusing now on areas of forestry downstream processing, agriculture downstream, livestock downstream, and fisheries downstream. “Many Australian businesses are in PNG, and we are encouraging them to move into these downstream spaces so we can send finished products back to them instead of primary raw products all the time,” said Prime Minister Marape. After the Prime Ministers’ XIII match, the PNG Prime Minister is flying out to join another round of world leaders at the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who during his tenure, had been supportive of PNG in our mutual bi-lateral relationship. While observing the funeral, PM Marape is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Hon. Fumio Kishida on Tuesday (270922) in a bi-lateral conversation that again aims at promoting trade and investments focusing on PNG’s renewable sectors of forestry, fisheries, and agriculture. After the visit to Japan, PM Marape will return to United States to join members of the Pacific Island Forum who are scheduled to meet with American President Hon. Joe Biden, during which PM Marape will have the opportunity for a one-on-one meeting with the President. PM Marape said of this: “Papua New Guinea’s position with the US is clear. While we have been having a strong political and administrative relationship, we are asking United States to buy more products from PNG especially as we work at sending finished products in agriculture, fisheries and forestry to the world. And we want the United States to also pick up its fair share from us. “We are also inviting them to come in and partner us, take up residence here in the downstream processing sector. “America’s number one company, ExxonMobil is already here. Now we invite others to join up in our Special Economic Zones and in and around the country where we will give them special support. “Our International Trade & Investment Minister Richard Maru has been tasked to look into this space, and part of my job as prime minister when I meet leaders of countries is to pitch the direction in which our country is moving, and lobby for investors to come in and open up markets in the countries that I visit,” said PM Marape. The Prime Minister said while under his watch, he would promote and push a national interest that focused on downstream processing and the sale of finished products done in the country, ready to be sold throughout the world. “PNG is privileged to have relationships with these big economies – United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, India, South Korea and the Philippines. These are huge markets. “As I visit them and sit with their heads of government, it is time to consolidate our relationships looking into the next decade. We want renewed partnerships that focuses on downstream processing of our agriculture, fisheries and forestry. These bi-lateral relationships must now be anchored in trade and commerce,” said Prime Minister Marape.

Power lines have been downed and houses washed into the sea after Storm Fiona battered Canada's coastline. At least one person died after being washed out to sea in Newfoundland, officials said. Fiona was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Friday. Such weather events are rare in Canada, and police said the storm was "like nothing we've ever seen". The army has been deployed to Nova Scotia to assist the clean-up. Parts of five provinces experienced torrential rain and winds of up to 160km/h (99mph), with widespread flooding and hundreds of thousands of people left without power. Prime Minister Trudeau says the military will be deployed to Nova Scotia, adding: "If there is anything the federal government can do to help, we will be there." He has said he will no longer travel to Japan to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to deal with the storm's aftermath. Mr Trudeau convened a meeting of the Incident Response Group on Sunday - the second to discuss Fiona - and promised to "ensure that all necessary support is available" to restore services as quickly as possible. A 73-year-old woman died when the storm hit Port aux Basques, a small town on the southwest tip of Newfoundland that was one of the hardest hit areas. "The woman was last seen inside [her] residence just moments before a wave struck the home, tearing away a portion of the basement," the police said. The coast guard and rescuers recovered her body from the sea on Sunday. Port aux Basques is "like a complete war zone," with more than 20 homes destroyed and 200 people displaced, said mayor Brian Button. He added that damages were in the millions of dollars. Rosalyn Roy, a local resident, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp that rebuilding would take "months". Earlier, a woman was rescued after being "tossed into the water as her home collapsed". Government officials have said the country's military will be deployed to help clear trees and roads. A police chief on Prince Edward Island urged residents to stay inside "unless absolutely necessary" as recovery efforts continued. Power companies have warned that it could take days to restore electricity, as wind speeds remain too high to start work on downed power lines. Severe hurricanes in Canada are rare, as storms normally lose their energy once they hit colder waters in the north and become post-tropical instead. Fiona had already wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic earlier this week, with many still left without power or running water. Florida also faces a hurricane threat as tropical storm Ian strengthened as it moved over the Caribbean on Saturday. It could approach Florida early next week as a major hurricane.     Source: BBC

The Minister for Education, Hon Jimmy Uguro, MP issued a challenge to all senior education officials present at the official opening of the week-long Senior Education Officers’ Conference being held at Kavieng Fisheries College to play their part and work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4 by 2027. Mr. Uguro said that according to the Sustainable Development Goals, countries have been called on to ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes by 2030”. For Papua New Guinea, he called on everyone starting from the Ministry of Education staff, the community, the different levels of government and partners and stakeholders in education to play their part in achieving the SDG 4.1 by 2027. The Ministry has been tasked with the implementation of two Priority Goals for the next five years. The implementation of these two priority goals will result in the achievement of the SDG 4.1 by 2027. Priority Goal No 1 will ensure that all children complete a grade 12 education – leaving no child behind. The following are strategies under Priority Goal 1 that the different levels of government and organisations are responsible for: 1. The National Government (Policy/Standards), 2. Provincial Government (High Schools & Vocational Training Centres) and Districts (LLGs) (Primary – Pre Schools) build 2,243 classrooms each year in schools and/or build 85 new high schools each year. i.e. each province build 4 schools per province or each district build 1 new high school each year. 3. All secondary schools offer quality FODE to all students and young people. 4. National Government through the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology train more teachers. 5. Free Education at Basic Education – From Prep to Grade 12, FODE and VET is free. Parents make voluntary contributions for School Projects under SLIP. Meanwhile, Priority Goal No 2 will ensure that all children receive quality education – leaving no child behind. The following are the strategies need to be implemented by all stakeholders to improve quality and standard of education: 1. Build more classrooms and schools – to reduce class size 2. Train more competent teachers to improve Pupil:Teacher Ratio and teaching and learning 3. Provide One textbook per child – By printing, procurement or e Copy 4. Increase school inspectors visit to schools and teachers – Housing and Mobility 5. Provide every school access to electronic education. 6. Ensure Teacher attendance in school and classroom is mandatory. 7. All schools have School Learning Improvement Plan (SLIP). The Minister also called on all leaders in the education sector to cut down on administrative tasks and focus on activities and programs that will make a positive impact on teaching and learning such as infrastructure, teacher training, teachers’ salaries and conditions like housing. He said teachers must sleep well in order to teach well. The Minister suggested that for all fees to be done away with and for the government and business houses to consider a feeding program for children who are not in school. I am also calling on the government to increase education’s share of the national budget to 20% from the current 13-14% share of the national budget in order to implement all important reforms and policies The Minister thanked the children, teachers and the community in Kavieng for the colourful traditional welcome at the airport and also during the opening ceremony this morning. During the conference proper, the Minister reiterated his call everyone to work together in order to achieve results.

Thousands of people have been evacuated and government offices have been closed as a a super typhoon bashes the Philippines eastern islands. Typhoon Noru has caused gusts of up to 240kph (149mph) on the main island Luzon, where more than half of the country's 110 million population live. Forecasters say the storm experienced an "explosive intensification" as it made landfall west of Luzon. The storm could cause landslides, flash flooding and dangerous storm surges. More than 8,400 people have already been evacuated from its path, and officials have issued warnings of "serious flooding" in areas of the capital, Manila. The storm's speed increased by 90 km/h in 24 hours. Weather forecaster Robb Gile told news agency AFP that its increased speed was "unprecedented". The Philippine weather service has issued a wind signal five for Luzon, the highest warning level which marks Noru as a super typhoon. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Red Cross in the Philippines, told the BBC that heavy rainfalls had filled many of the country's dams, leading to a risk of flooding. National police chief Gen Rodolfo Azurin urged people to comply with evacuation orders. In Quezon Province, east of Manila, fishermen have been prevented from heading to sea, and there were reports of some areas being without power. Flights and ferry services have been cancelled. On Luzon - the most populous island - President Ferdinand Marcos suspended all government work and school classes were also cancelled. In Dingalan municipality, northeast of Manila and on the Pacific coast, residents were forced to seek shelter. "We live away from the coast so we're staying put so far. We're more worried about the water from the mountains," a resident told AFP. Authorities warned of dangerous storm surges along the eastern coast, as well as heavy agricultural losses. Trading on the country's stock exchange will also be suspended on Monday and Mr Marcos warned that the energy ministry had placed on high alert all energy-related industries in the county. Thousands of volunteers are monitoring river levels, bridges and mountains for landslides which could hamper rescue efforts, said Dick Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross. Information will be crucial in getting help to where it is needed, he said. The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean, is highly vulnerable to storms. It sees an annual average of 20 tropical storms. An estimated 400 people died when Typhoon Rai hit the country in December 2021, with rescue teams describing scenes of "complete carnage". And in 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical storms ever recorded, killed some 6,300 people.   Source: BBC

They threw away their old worn out jerseys for the new Lae Biscuit sponsored jerseys to complete their Papua New Guinea 47 years independence games today (Monday 26/09/22) at Buimo prison in Lae. Detainees at Papua New Guinea’s second largest prison the Buimo jail in Morobe province end their independence games today running out in Lae Biscuit Company sponsored jerseys. And more than the bleak dark shades of prison, the Lae Biscuit Company donation of six sets of jerseys to the participating teams gives them a brighter outlook than the crimes that brought them behind bars. Apart from the jersey sets, the Lae Biscuit Company Marketing team led by Manageress Denise Girey delivered more than 100 cartons of Snax noodles on Friday topping up from the previous day’s donation of Snax Biscuit cartons as well. For the prison, being within the confines of barricades doesn’t stop them to acknowledge their patriotism of PNG as their mother land according to Buimo Prison Welfare Officer, Sargent Jack Abu. Sargent Abu told the Lae Biscuit team that indeed they can’t go out and celebrate independence with the rest of PNG knowing very well the splendor displays out there but such events hosted within the prison makes them one in spirit with the rest of PNG. ‘’Yes we are within the prison confines and seeing each other only, but through such games we are in unity,’’ Sargent Abu said. Sargent Abu said independence being one of their biggest hosted events every year they now look forward to Christmas and as always, it’s the Lae Biscuit Company that gives them hope to one day make it out better and reuniting with loved ones. Sargent Abu thanked the Lae Biscuit Company for always coming out big and lending a hand to put the smiles on detainees faces engaging in events within the prison confines just like the rest of PNG outside the prison. The Lae Biscuit Company has maintained its belief in creating and supporting the community by providing assistance to community projects, events, sporting events, and disaster relief. Lae Biscuit will always strive to give back to the community. The two weeks Buimo prison PNG 47 years’ independence games ends today.

The Kumul Petroleum Lewas have been in Abu Dhabi for the past two weeks competing in the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers. They unfortunately missed out on the semi finals after a close loss to Thailand which left them to fight it out in the repechage rounds. They first met the USA in the 7th place play off and had a comfortable 7 wicket win with 9 overs to spare. USA batted first and could only manage 76/9 as the Lewas bowling attack dominated, Vicky Ara’a 3/13, Ravini Oa 3/20 and Sibona Jimmy 2/1 all bowling very well. In response the Lewas batting was led by player of the match, Sibona Jimmy, with 33 (30) and Tanya Ruma continuing her good form with 22 at a run a ball. Brenda Tau and Kaia Arua finishing off the dominate run chase in the 11th over. The Kumul Petroleum Lewas were then elevated to the fifth place play off with Scotland. The Scots won the toss and elected to bat, they amassed a very competitive 168/6 thanks to a masterful innings from their skipper, Kathryn Bryce 63 (47) who was well supported by opener Saskia Horley with 44 (32). The Lewa bowling attack was again led by Oa and Jimmy with two wickets each. The Kumul Petroleum Lewas went about the chase with their most competent batting display of the qualifiers to date. An opening stand of 52 by Jimmy (26) and Naoani Vare (22) set up the chase brilliantly before Tanya Ruma and Brenda Tau blasted past the total with 8 balls to spare and an emphatic 8-wicket victory. Ruma finishing 63 not out off just 31 balls including eight fours and two sixes, and Tau not out 41 off 31 balls including four fours. Player of the match, Tanya Ruma was outstanding for the Lewas throughout the qualifiers finishing the tournament as one of leading run scorers. Coach Hempenstall was proud of the team “ It was great to finish so strongly, they completely dominated the US team and then when faced with a challenging total tonight, they were clinical. As a group we are disappointed not to qualify for the World Cup, we got better as the tournament went on. With a first up loss to full member nation Zimbabwe we were immediately under pressure, then we were a little off our game against Thailand. But full credit to the team after those results 5th was the highest we could achieve, they played well in the repechage rounds, very proud of their efforts.” “ We will take a lot of confidence out of this tournament; we now head to Brisbane for a PacificAus Sports supported High Performance Camp at the Cricket Australia National Academy before playing the Pacific Cup in Vanuatu in Early October.” The Qualifiers were won by Bangladesh over Ireland with both countries qualifying for the ICC T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe finished 3rd with Thailand rounding out the top four.

Former Papua New Guinea (PNG) swim sensation and four time Olympian for Team PNG Ryan Pini was announced as the Chef de Mission to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC). Pini has made a name for himself in the pool on a national and international athletic career spaning over 28 years for Team PNG and Papua New Guinea. PNGOC President Sir John Dawanincura in making the announcement congratulated Ryan on his recent endorsement and appointment as Team Lead for Team PNG to the next modern and second post-COVID Olympic Games. “As one of the most successful Team PNG athletes to the Olympics with a competitive athlete term spanning over 20 years, competing in 4 Olympics, 3 Commonwealth Games, 5 Pacific Games and many World Championship events representing PNG, Ryan has always embodied and lived out the four PNGOC character values of honesty, excellence, respect and openess. His sporting accolades, character and commitment to sports and life after sports for our young atheltes unquestionably make him the ideal candidate to lead PNG to its 13th Olympic games”, said Sir John. “Ryan has been an outstanding role model and mentor for hundreds of Team PNG athletes whilst being a notable member of our Team PNG family over the years. Having him lead the 2024 Team PNG delegation to Paris is a testament and culmination of his efforts during and after his sporting career” he added. Pini represented PNG in the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics whilst also serving as the PNG flagbearer at the 2008 and 2016 Olympic editions of the Games. Pini is arguably PNG’s most successful Team PNG Athlete to have progressed to an Olympic final in any of the sports and events that PNG has fielded Athletes in since joining the Olympic Movement in 1974 as a National Olympic Committee (NOC), and the consequent attendance of the first games during the 1976 Montreal Olympics in Canada. Coincidently, his grandfather Jack Pini was the Chef de Mission for the first Team PNG contingent to the first ever Olympic Games to the 1976 Montreal Games. In recognition and acknowledgement of his pursuits of Athlete excellence through the sport of swimming and athlete contributions to the Pacific Games, Pini was elected Athlete Representative to the Pacific Games Council during the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, and then again at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa. Regionally, he is a Committee Member on the Athletes Commission of the Oceania National Olympic Committee (ONOC), part of the Oceania Sports Federation Organisation (OSFO), PNG Olympian Association and Sport Matters Board, and was most recently re-appointed as a member of the Swimming World governing body, FINA during the 2022 World Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. He was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for his services to sports in PNG. In addition, he has also been awarded the PNG SP Sportsman of the Year Award for the years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011 and 2015, in addition to him being awarded the PNG SP Sports Award Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. While in Oceania, his sporting excellence in the pool also bagged him the ONOC Male Oceania Athlete of the Year Award in 2015 and South Pacific Games Male Swimmer of the Meet in 2003 in recognition of his win in 7 events where he also set 4 in Games’ Records. Team PNG will be drawing from Pini’s vast experience as they ramp up their preparations to Paris, France games

PNG skipper Raymond Gunemba has called on PNG to rally behind the home team as they march into the semi-finals in the MSG PM's XI Cup tomorrow against in-form Fiji side at Korman Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu. Prime Minister XI Men Soccer Team coach Harrison Kamake has praised his young side that defeated Vanuatu senior men’s team 1-0 over the weekend at Korman Stadium. Kamake said he also wanted the boys to get exposure and gain some experience at such a high intensity of international football in the Pacific. He singled out Moses Joe who blended well with Alwin Komolong and his elder brother Daniel Joe along with Ferdahlas Namuesh to form a solid back-four in the match. Coach said instructed the young team going into the match that PNG had 7 yellow cards going into the game, and the players had to play smart because the team couldn't afford to lose key players for the semifinals. He said players like Ferdahlas Namuesh, Moses Joe, Pala Paul, Obert Simon, Yagi Yasasa, Joseph Waiwai and Australia-based Israel Grese played very well coming off the bench. “I have to give credit to the boys who played strongly and denied Vanuatu team from scoring,” he said. “We have seen many things during the game, but we tried executing some while others we could not. I must commend skipper Raymond Gunemba for his outstanding effort in both the first game and the second game for leading the boys to a 1-0 victory,” he said. Kamake said Sunday was a rest day. “The players went to a local church yesterday and slept whole day to recover from their hectic match against the Vanuatu senior side.” Captain Gunemba was pleased with the win. “The boys gave their best to come this far. It was very pleasing to see the young guns have stepped up to secure the win, something which will go down in the football books for them to record a win against the star-studded side from Vanuatu”. He said as the captain, he could not ask for more but urged PNG community to rally behind them come Tuesday when they meet Fiji in the semi finals. PNG will play Fiji in the first semifinals while Vanuatu Development Side to play Solomon Island in the second semifinals. “Fiji is a quality side who have so far won 1 match against New Caledonia and drew with Solomon Islands,” he said. “I have identified few areas to work on and have urged the boys to play to their best of their ability. We must play to our full strength with smart football to beat our opponents,” he added. He thanked the PNG Community in Port Vila for coming out in numbers to support the team. “In fact, they are making us the PNG team feel at home when we hear the local crowd getting behind us. We want the kind of support and urged PNG locals in Vanuatu to turn up in numbers to lend their support against Fiji on Tuesday.”

Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has today accepted an invitation by the Prime Minister of Isreal Hon. Yair Lapid to visit his country, Isreal, while PM Marape reciprocated this with a return invitation to the Isreali leader to visit Papua New Guinea. The exchanges happened soon after both leaders presented their respective country’s statements at the 77th United Nations General Assembly on Thursday 22nd September 2022 (New York Time). In a brief meeting on the sidelines of UNGA, both leaders spoke of and agreed for Papua New Guinea and Israel to step up on current diplomatic relations and how both countries would work together. Prime Minister Marape is very keen on getting Isreal’s high-skilled assistance in agriculture to help PNG in the new focus on agriculture that was recently announced. He said today: “Papua New Guinea can learn a lot from Isreal: their internal security, their technology-based agriculture industry that makes them food sufficient as well as exporters of fruits and vegetables to Europe and the world. “I want Papua New Guinea to learn from Israel on how they shifted their resources and focus on investment into knowledge-based economy. “At the meeting, I mentioned that PNG, under my watch, will be a supporter of Isreal and that PNG and Israel share common Judea-Christianity history and worldview”, PM Marape said. The leaders agreed to step up on the 44-year old diplomatic relation with renewed focus on agriculture innovations and knowledge-based economic development. Papua New Guinea and Israel established bi-lateral relations in 1978, three years after Papua New Guinea gained Independence.

Jaime Chapman and Shenae Ciesiolka pushed their claims for inclusion in the Jillaroos' World Cup squad with starring roles for the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII Women in their 64-6 victory over the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister’s XIII Women on Sunday. Playing at Suncorp Stadium, the home ground of their NRLW side the Broncos, the pair ran riot on opposing edges, with Ciesiolka scoring a hat-trick in a classy display and Chapman laying on three try assists in addition to making two line breaks of her own. Both players also ran for over 100 metres, while Titans forward Zara Canfield was another to impress, with the 21-year-old running for 126 metres off just 10 carries and scoring the final try to cap off a fine showing. The hosts enjoyed 64 percent of the possession and broke 62 tackles in the win, with nine of their 20-strong squad getting over for four-pointers. The Australian PM’s XIII Women dominated the first half and took a 32-0 lead to the break and led 52-0 with 15 minutes to go, at which point a brilliant solo effort from Joanne Lagona garnered one of the biggest cheers of the night as she put PNG PM’s XIII Women on the board.   Source: NRL.com

The Australian Prime Minister’s XIII Men’s side proved far too strong in the end, but had to work hard at times for a 64-14 victory over their Papua New Guinea counterparts on Sunday night. Matt Burton and Selwyn Cobbo both scored doubles in a game which saw 10 different members of the Australian PM's XIII Men score tries. While they couldn't match the skill and execution of their opponents at Suncorp Stadium, the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister’s XIII Men fought valiantly and finished the game with an 87 percent completion rate. Much of the damage inflicted by the hosts was done inside the opening 35 minutes, a period in which they scored seven tries, which became 38 points thanks to the accurate boot of Zac Lomax. Twenty four hours after the man most likely to rival him for the Kangaroos' No.7 jersey, Nathan Cleary, guided his side to the Telstra Premiership Grand Final, Daly Cherry-Evans showed his class setting up a pair of tries and kicking well in general play. Another performance likely to have pleased coach Mal Meninga was that of Titans big man Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, who all-but secured his plane ticket to England with an energetic showing. Among the first-half highlights was a powerful four-pointer from Cobbo, and a classy hit back from the PNG PM’s XIII Men, who got on the board after a looping cut-out pass from one-time Cowboys half Kyle Laybutt sent Edene Gebbie over for a try in the corner. Down 38-0 at one stage, the visiting side scored three unanswered tries between the 39th and 54th minute to claw back on the scoreboard. But a late flurry of points saw the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII Men run out 50-point winners. Source: NRL.com