David Mead

Speaking at the press conference on Sunday, Mead said there were plenty of points on offer but the team didn’t execute their set plays as well as they did in the win over Wales.

“We’ve got guys there who can break the line on their own, but we probably just got too excited and tried to score points like we did against Wales.

“We didn’t really earn the right to play out the back kind of football.”

Mead said against Wales, the Kumuls played tough, were able to hold on to the ball and complete sets.

The win was sealed three minutes out from full time with a try to halfback Watson Boas in front of another sell-out crowd in Port Moresby on Sunday afternoon.

It was the Wolfhounds who opened the scoring after four minutes through hooker Michael McIlorum, who scored after Kumuls captain, David Mead, failed to ground the ball in the in-goal area.

After dominating possession, the Kumuls finally got on the board ten minutes later.

The first try came from some razzle dazzle football which created space out wide for a barnstorming Gary Lo.

This week, MTSL through Pacific Balanced Fund Agro-Business presented cash awards to David Mead (best back) and Rhyse Martin (best forward) for their outstanding performances in the PNG LNG Kumuls 50-6 win over Wales.

Martin thanked MTSL saying it was an honour to be recognised for his efforts. Mead added on expressing his appreciation for the award.

General manager of Pacific Balanced Fund Agro-Business, Jerry Simon, said this was part of MTSL’s continued support from the SP Hunters and now to the PNG LNG Kumuls.

Mead attributed his tries to the hard work that the forwards did in opening up try scoring opportunities.

It took just five minutes from kick off for the PNG captain to capitalise on their home ground advantage, receiving the ball 15 metres out from the Welsh goal line then getting past to score the Kumuls’ first try of the match.

Justin Olam let his season with the Melbourne Storm feeder club show when he combined well with Garry Lo in creating holes in the Wales defence for try scoring opportunities.

“Obviously, we’ve taken a lot of confidence from the win. But there are still things to fix up and improve on both in defence and attack.

“Obviously, our ball security is one thing.  I thought if we controlled the ball a bit better and built more pressure, we could have done a bit more damage against Wales.

“But overall, it was a pretty good performance, “said Mead.

Kumuls assistant coach, Marcus Bai agreed that the team needs to polish up on a number of areas before the next game against Ireland on Sunday November 5 at the Oil Search National Football Stadium.

A passionate Papua New Guinean who at one time in his career was disillusioned with the state of the game in PNG, Mead will have the honour of leading the Kumuls out for the first World Cup game ever played in PNG in front of a crowd that may be just as big outside the ground as the 25,000 who will create a deafening atmosphere from within.

“The majority of the boys are from the Hunters. They had a huge year, a very successful year. They’re a lot more professional now. They know how to look after their bodies really well. They’re also mentally a lot tougher.

“In my opinion, this is one of the best squads we’ve ever had.

“It’s just a matter of preparing well at training, taking that over to Fiji and building from there to get ready for the World Cup

Mead, who is currently in Port Moresby told Loop PNG said he was obviously disappointed to be missing out on playing this weekend.

“I have a rib cartilage injury and I’ve been playing with it since the Roosters game. I’ve been getting a needle every game and it’s pretty painful the next morning when I wake up and during the week at training. It’s affecting my training.

“I spoke to Wayne and he told me to make sure to get my body right, have the weekend off to rest up well and come ready to train next week.

The PNG Kumuls and Brisbane Broncos star took photos, signed posters and took part in some fun and games with the public.

“It’s a pretty good feeling. It’s always good for me to get out in public and meet Papua New Guineans.

“I know they all love their rugby league and they’re very passionate. I can see it on their faces when they meet rugby league players. It’s good to be here,” Mead said.

General Manager of Fone Haus, Damian Ames said Mead has been the Digicom Ambassador for five months now.