The second set of group matches in the Rugby League World Cup comes to a close on Tuesday evening when Papua New Guinea take on the Cook Islands in what is likely to be a physical and emotional affair at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington.
Papua New Guinea opened their campaign with a defeat and they go into this one knowing that they will be out of the competition with another. Cook Islands were victorious in their first game but face their toughest two tests from here on in.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC Three channel. The build-up begins at 7.05pm and kick off in Warrington comes along at 7.30pm.
Papua New Guinea
When the draw was made for this group, Papua New Guinea would have been the team expected to follow Tonga through to the quarter finals. They can still do that but they are going to have to win their last two matches in order for that to happen. No team wants to lose a match, particularly their opening one, but if you are going to lose make sure there are positives to take from it and there were loads for this Papua New Guinea outfit.
Papua New Guinea took the game to Tonga last week and it was only a piece of brilliance late on that denied them. You would imagine there will be natural improvement in them as there has been in all the established sides who are looking to build up to peak for a quarter final so that is very positive. Unfortunately they have picked up a couple of key injuries since the Tonga outing and that could be something which holds them back a tough.
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands got off to a perfect start to their tournament in terms of the scoreboard but they probably won’t have been happy with all of their performance against Wales. In the end they ground the Welsh down but there was a stage late on in the piece where Wales could have snatched a draw which would have been catastrophic for their chances of reaching the quarter final. They will know if they are going to progress, this is their best chance to make it through.
They will also need to improve for this match but you could see there was a decent side in the making in them. There were one or two combinations that were a little rusty which should be much stronger for the outing and having got the competitive juices flowing I think we can expect an 80 minute performance of intensity in this game. The backs look to be pretty strong for Cook Islands so if their forwards can mix it with their opponents then Cook Islands will fancy their chances of upsetting the applecart here.
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Team News
Papua New Guinea suffered a major blow ahead of this match with the news that NRL winger Xavier Coates has been ruled out of the tournament. Sherwin Tanabi also missed out here with Jimmy Mgutlik and Jeremiah Simbiken replacing them.
Wakefield Trinity forward Tinirau Arona is one of three players to come into the Cook Islands squad for this crucial encounter. Vincent Rennie and Moses Noovao-McGreal are the other two men coming into the squad.
Betting
The bookmakers are giving the Cook Islands a 16 point start for this match but this feels like a closer contest than that. Papua New Guinea have some star quality sprinkled throughout their side but I think it is fair to say they are not at the levels of the big five just yet. Cook Islands have a fairly strong squad for a team in the position they are in the world game at the minute and given that this is their best chance to make the quarter finals I don’t see them going down without a fight.
When the Cook Islands started to play against Wales they looked a decent side and although Papua New Guinea ran Tonga close, there were certainly signs that Tonga weren’t really at it so assessing these teams isn’t easy. I think Papua New Guinea will win this match but it is all about winning it for them not running up the score. Cook Islands have good quality in the right areas and if the halves can finish the sets strongly then they can remain within 16 here.
Tips
Back Cook Islands (+16.5) to beat Papua New Guinea for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
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