The PNG LNG Kumuls have catapulted themselves into the World Cup quarter-finals after disposing USA with a 64-0 beating this afternoon.
A hat-trick to Justin Olam and a double to debutant, Lachlan Lam, contributed to 11 try rout to complete a clean sweep of the Kumuls’ pool matches in front of yet another sell out at the Oil Search National Football Stadium, Port Moresby.
The home side came out firing from the start with Lam pumping his fist in celebration as he opened the scoring.
This opened the floodgates.
It was 22-0 after 18 minutes with the Kumuls right on top, scoring at nearly a point a minute.
The drinks break at the end of the first quarter offered some relief for the weary Hawks.
The Kumuls got right back into business with tries to Rod Griffin and Stargroth Amean to set up a 34-0 lead at the break.
The crowd of 14,800 didn’t have to wait long, and were celebrating try number 7 in the opening minutes of the second half after captain David Mead pounced on a loose ball and ran 80 metres to score his fourth try of the World Cup.
USA put up some resistance and at times threatened to cross the try line, but it was not to be today.
Nene Macdonald brought up the half century in the 61st minute scoring out wide, but PNG weren’t done just yet.
Olam completed his hat-trick scoring the last two tries of the match for the PNG Kumuls to record their biggest at a World Cup, and send them into the finals.
The Kumuls will meet England in next Sunday’s quarter-final at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne.
“I’m really proud of the effort the boys put in today. We knew we had to win this one to make the quarter-finals. We have to celebrate this win,” said PNG Kumuls coach, Michael Marum.
USA coach, Brian McDermott, said: “We are disappointed. We’re disappointed that we couldn’t score a try and disappointed that we conceded so many.”
The Kumuls leave for Australia tomorrow morning.