Papua New Guinea withstood an early assault from the Cook Islands to win their Pacific Championships match-up 42-20 at Santos National Football Stadium in Port Moresby.
In hot and humid conditions on Sunday afternoon, the Kumuls regained their composure as centres Elijah Roltinga and Nene Macdonald scored doubles.
The home team trailed 14-4 in the first half before fighting back despite being reduced to 12 men when Sylvester Namo was marched to the sin bin.
PNG kicked off the scoring through Roltinga in the fifth minute.
The Kumuls sent the ball towards their left edge with Roltinga at the end of the passing chain.
But the Cook Islands soon responded through Davvy Moale, who pushed past four defenders to ground the ball just inside the tryline.
As he barged over, Moale copped a knee to his ribs, which had him on his haunches.
The prop was swiftly subbed off but returned later in the half.
Steven Marsters then added two points for the Cook Islands after Ila Alu was penalised for being offside in defence.
Everything is going the Cook Islands’ way,” NRL great Andrew Johns said in commentary for Nine.
Nene Macdonald thought he had scored after a blistering run before the Steeden was brought back down the other end for an earlier error.
After some back-and-forth play, Rua Ngatikaura put the footwork on before running into a high shot from Sylvester Namo.
With Ngatikaura coming from the field for a HIA, referee Peter Gough placed Namo on report and sent the prop straight to the sin bin.
With PNG reduced to 12 men, the Cook Islands did not waste a second — Steven and Esan Marsters combining to score.
Making up for his earlier revoked try, Macdonald muscled his way over to get on the board and reduce the deficit to single figures.
Scoring back-to-back tries, captain Lachlan Lam propelled the Kumuls back in front in his debut match as skipper.
At the main break, the hosts led the Cook Islands 16-14.
The Kumuls opened the scoring in the second half through winger Robert Derby — his fifth try in his past five Tests.
Lam let rip on a Harbour Bridge pass which landed in Derby’s lap with only free space ahead of him.
Nine’s commentators were unimpressed when Steven Marsters was penalised for putting pressure on the kicker after Lam jumped into him.
“That is professional milking,” Brenton Speed told Nine’s coverage.
This set up Namo to score.
As PNG quickly doubled the Cook Islands’ score, Zane Tetevano was placed on report and sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Koso Bandi.
Bandi failed his HIA and did not return to the match, causing PNG to bring on 18th man Morea Morea.
The numbers advantage helped as Roltinga added his second before a blistering sequence saw Macdonald follow suit.
Making an immediate impact, Morea sealed the result with a late four-pointer, after Cook Islands centre Esom Ioka scored a consolation try in the corner.
The Kumuls now progress to next Sunday’s promotion-relegation play-off final against New Zealand at Western Sydney Stadium.
Earlier, the Kiwi Ferns blew the PNG Orchids off the park with a 36-0 victory, setting up a date with the Jillaroos in the Women’s Pacific Championships Cup final.
