Hat-tricks from Tom Trbojevic and James Tedesco helped the Australians race away to a 48-8 win over PNG in the Prime Minister’s XIII match tonight.
Over 13,000 swarmed into the National Football Stadium to watch a near full-strength Kangaroos side take on a PNG outfit, dominated by Digicel Cup players - a David and Goliath battle.
It took over ten minutes for the Australians to cross the line through Trbojevic who crossed for his first.
The 20-minute mark is where the momentum shifted in favour of the home side after a break from five-eighth Jason Missian.
This eventually led to PNG scoring their first and only try after an overlap allowed Stanford Talita to fly over and score, leaving thousands of supporters in jubilation.
PNG pushed to an 8-6 lead five minutes later after Missain slotted through a penalty goal.
But the Australians kept their cool, striking three times in the shadows of half time to take back the lead.
The Australians thoroughly dominated the second half running in four more tries to cruise to a comfortable win.
AUSTRALIA 48 (Tom Trbojevic 3, James Tedesco 3, Tyson Frizell, James Maloney tries; James Maloney 6, Valentine Holmes 1, Andrew Fifita 1 goals) def PAPUA NEW GUINEA 8 (Stanford Talita try; Jason Missian 2 goals)