There is one match left in the group phase of the Rugby League World Cup and it comes on Monday evening when Papua New Guinea look to seal their place in the quarter final of the tournament when they take on Wales in Doncaster.
Papua New Guinea head into this Group D contest knowing that they can qualify even if they lose the match as long as it isn’t by 22 points or more. Should Wales win by that margin it will be them taking on England in the last eight on Saturday.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC Two channel. The build-up to the contest begins at 7pm with the kick off in Doncaster coming at 7.30pm.
Papua New Guinea
When the tournament began Papua New Guinea were seeded to make it out of this group and they are in pole position to live up to that billing despite losing their opening match to Tonga. To be fair to PNG, there were plenty of positives for them to take from that match even though the result didn’t go their way. They built on that to take care of the Cook Islands in their second outing in a match which they got better in the longer it went on.
They will expect to improve once again here and if their big players come to the party then they can be expected to be very tough to beat. They do just need to ensure they take care of business and go out to win this match. They don’t need to win but we often see teams in sport in this situation get caught in two minds and eventually don’t do anything and pay the price. The power in the Papua New Guinea forwards should get them into plenty of good positions throughout this one.
Wales
This was always going to be a tough ask for Wales in this tournament. They are up against three very powerful units but the one thing we could guarantee from them before this event kicked off was that they would give everything they had every time they stepped onto the pitch. They did that against the Cook Islands where they came so close to an upset result and they did the same against Tonga in a match they were right in for the opening 35 minutes.
The problem Wales have here is that they don’t just need to win but they need to win by 22 points so if they are going to do that they are going to need to attempt some trick plays and look to bamboozle the Papua New Guinea defence. That obviously comes with plenty of risk though so it will be interesting to see how they manage the match. It might just be try and be ahead with 20 to go and then see if they can pile the pressure on.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THE RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Team News
Papua New Guinea have made three changes to their squad for this final group encounter. Watson Boas, Sylvester Namo and McKenzie Yei have been left out of the squad which beat the Cook Islands. Zev John, Sherwin Tanabi and Wesser Tenza all come in.
Wales coach John Kear has also made three changes to freshen up his squad after the defeat to Tonga last time out. Mike Butt, Rhodri Lloyd and Will Evans all come into the reckoning with Dalton Grant, Luke Thomas and Tom Hopkins making way.
Betting
Papua New Guinea don’t need to win this match but I think they will. They will want to get all of their combinations in tip top order during this game so that they can give England a good challenge at the weekend and so I fear for Wales a little here. Wales have been spirited and competitive in this tournament but they have put in two incredible shifts and you just wonder whether they can go to the well one more time.
I suspect the way this one will play out is that Wales will be competitive in the early stages, perhaps even the entire first half, but as they tire and Papua New Guinea get the lead the Wales defence will struggle to contain the power that is against them and in the end the team from the Pacific Islands can run out relatively comfortable winners. PNG are giving up 26.5 points in this one but I’m not convinced that is enough over 80 minutes.
Tips
Back Papua New Guinea (-26) to beat Wales at 1.91 with Boylesports
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
