"This draw is a f--king joke and you can quote me on that."

[RLIF]

COACH Adrian Lam says Papua New Guinea have proven the unfairness of their controversial World Cup draw - by failing to win any of their internationals on a European tour.

The Kumuls crashed controversially 22-16 to France at Begles near Bordeaux yesterday to give the French a clean sweep in the two-Test series. PNG were flogged by Wales to start their trek and won only provincial games.

New Sydney Roosters assistant Lam broke his six-month silence over the Kumuls being grouped with Australia, England and New Zealand at the World Cup, describing it as "a f---ing joke".

"Our board has said: how can we be ranked fourth? In the last World Cup we were in the quarter-finals, we got knocked out by Wales and since then we haven't won a Test!" he told the Daily Telegraph.

"Had everyone gone into a hat and they pulled out Papua New Guinea, I would have gone `yep, fair enough, we were given a chance.'

"The first three teams in our pool go through to the semis? Please! If there was a repecharge would have been happy with that too.

"This draw is a f--king joke and you can quote me on that."

Papua New Guinea could at least have salvaged a draw yesterday except for an in-goal judge ruling lock Sam Wabo knocked on after he collected a kick which richocheted off an upright with four minutes left.

"It was a try, I scored," Wabo said. "If it was just the referee, he would have awarded it. I didn't knock on."

The Kumuls were led by Penrith's Keith Peters from halfback while club-mate Paul Aiton was hooker. Australian-born Justin Murphy had a quiet game on the wing for France.
"We want to pick French players but he is one of the two best wingers we can find," said coach John Monie, whose men face New Zealand in Paris on Saturday.


FRANCE 22 (Maxime Greseque 2, Eric Anselme, Cyril Stacul tries; Greseque 3 goals) bt PAPUA NEW GUINEA 16 (Nigel Hukula, Tu'u Maori, John Wilshere tries; Wilshere 2 goals) at Stade Andrew Mosa, Begles. Referee: Leon Williamson (New Zealand

 

[roughyedspud]

they had a chance when the draw was announced,they even had high level meetings in sydney about it......they had their chance to,rightly, kick off about it...but they did'nt..


so they can stop whinging..

 

[miguel de cervantes]

yep, it's a bit late now. I'm pretty sure if they had beaten Wales and France x2 they'd be saying "Bring it on!"

 

[bowes]

Agree with him, though I wish they'd gone through with their threat to boycott unless the draw was changed and not backed down when offered to have two of their games in nearby Townsville (originally one was to be Port Moresby but that was logistically impossible)

 

[The Observer]

1. PNGRFL complained early enough for their place to be changed.
2. It's unfair to expect PNG to carry out their boycott threat when they had so much more to lose than the ARL.

I feel sorry for them. PNG should be swapped around with Tonga. It would satisfy all parties:
a) Kumuls would avoid thrashings from big 3, have a chance of making the fials
b) Tonga would be glad to get to play the big 3, but woul put up a stronger fight,
c) ARL would get an even more competitive RLWC than they currently have.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Not tobe pedantic but they did win two games on tour, just not any of the three main ones. Plus they were competitive in those three except for the second half against Wales. I hope they don't throw the towel in before the WC has even started because I reckon they could at least give one of the big three a scare. Realistically they probably wouldn't make the semis even if they were in one of the other pools. Three big games against the world's best shown on TV all over the world might yet be a better result, especially if they play well, than losing to France or Tonga in one of the lower profile pool games. I know that's not how they see it but maybe as the tournament draws closer, or even after it is played they might see the positive side of the situation.

 

[Kumul]

Yeah originally i was against the Draw for the Kumuls but now i think it is a good thing. The people back home are dying to see the kumuls play against the top 3 so this is a blessing in disguise. Hopefully we will defeat one of them and progress further. And we will be much better for the experience.

 

[RLIF]

Yeah originally i was against the Draw for the Kumuls but now i think it is a good thing. The people back home are dying to see the kumuls play against the top 3 so this is a blessing in disguise. Hopefully we will defeat one of them and progress further. And we will be much better for the experience.

I agree, and it was PNG's first tour in how many years? If Wales and France toured PNg they would have got beaten...simple is that. PNG did well in the two Tests vs France.

 

[The Observer]

The people back home are dying to see the kumuls play against the top 3 so this is a blessing in disguise.

Fair point. Realy every October the Kumuls should be allowed to host the Kangaroos (minus Grand Final players) rather than the Aus PM XIII. The 2001 Kumuls/Kangaroos test was fantastic, entertaining and had a lot of amosphere.

 

[Spitty]

Just imagine if PNG manage to knock off one of the big three or even force a draw and then qualify for the finals. Wouldn't that mean much more that to beat 3 minnow nations? Even if they lost to one of the big three by just a couple of points and missed the finals it would be much more meaningful.

Besides there a better chance of beating Australia at Dairy Farmers after having intense battles with NZ and the poms, than they are of beating them in Sydney after beating minnows.

I can't believe a fierce competitor like Adrian Lam is interested in taking the easy way to the semi's.

 

[ocko]

he's completely correct

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Fair point. Realy every October the Kumuls should be allowed to host the Kangaroos (minus Grand Final players) rather than the Aus PM XIII. The 2001 Kumuls/Kangaroos test was fantastic, entertaining and had a lot of amosphere.

The ARL would never let that happen and they are right not to. The Australian side can't be allowed to play minus anyone. It has to be the best team available as much as possible. The Australian jersey means too much to cheapen it. The answer is, the full test team has to play the Kumuls more often, even if it's not every year. The Kiwis too and England when they tour.

 

[winnyason]

they led both test at half time so being complacent hurt the kumuls.
Won both tour games but put in a hollwer vs wales they are not good travellers remember they got a draw vs pm xii at home so let's hope townsville feels like home.

 

[Copa]

They wont win the WC no matter what the draw..... and they get to play the big 3.

Seems ok.

 

[roopy]

PNG will get a chance to put all their guys into serious training for maybe three months before the WC and then have garenteed matches against the big three who might have a week or two to prepare.
It is the best chance they will get to do the business.
All the best players for the other sides will have seasons to finish and will need a bit of tim off after that - but PNG can end their season early and get serious about training hard and showing up in peak condition.
This current tour they are probably being bashed around the training paddock and the itinerary is brutal, but they should have the perfect preparation for the WC, or if they don't it's their fault.

 

[yakstorm]

I'm liking what Adrian Lam has done, he has created the whole 'us v them' mentality in the lead up to the World Cup which is going to do the following things:

1) It's going to motivate the players thinking they have been stuffed over so they have nothing to lose.

2) It's going to get the crowds behind the Kumuls. Australian's love an underdog, especially one who has been treated unfairly, if there was any doubt before about PNG getting the support of the crowd, he has more than sewn it up.

3) It is getting people talking about the World Cup, more talk about the Cup, more interest in the concept, more interest means more ticket sales, more sales, well you know how the cycle goes.

I hope he keeps it up!

 

[deluded pom?]

Muhammed Ali did wonders for boxing at the boxoffice with his mouth. Let's hope Adrian can do the same.

 

[The Observer]

The ARL would never let that happen and they are right not to.

The ARL has used player rotation for the Kangaroos for 100 years in RLWC pool games, tour matches against all sorts of opposition. No different for using it against a non elite nation like PNG. The ARL could have put a great Kangaroo team out against the Kumuls, minus Grand Finalists.

The Australian side can't be allowed to play minus anyone. It has to be the best team available as much as possible. The Australian jersey means too much to cheapen it.

The attitude should be - once a Kangaroo, always a Kangaroo. This is why the ARL developed a Kangaroos register to gve each player a number, becase it is an elite club.

Taking a hard line stance = no Kangaroos Kumuls test match. Instead we get the PMs XIII.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

The ARL has used player rotation for the Kangaroos for 100 years in RLWC pool games, tour matches against all sorts of opposition. No different for using it against a non elite nation like PNG. The ARL could have put a great Kangaroo team out against the Kumuls, minus Grand Finalists.

There's a big difference between rotating some players during a long tour or tournament and not selecting the team from everyone available. Anyway tour matches and WC matches (except '95) aren't Test matches for one and the ARL also brought in tour jerseys so the Roos didn't wear the Test jersey in tour games. There's little point playing a 3/4 strength Australian team against PNG anyway. We might as well play the PM's XIII if we're going to leave GF players out. In any case, as I said, the ARL will never do it so it's a moot point. There's no reason why we can't have the full Test team play them anyway, just not in Setember like the PM's XIII do.

 

[dibviking]

what an ungrateful cheeky pr1ck Adrian
lam is!
They get in the world cup with-out having to qualify and he`giving it a bit of mouth whereas a team like Wales who made the semis last 2 world cups (and who also knocked out Papua New Guinea as Lam said) have failed to get there.

so if they`re not the 4th best team who is?
is he saying someone else should be in their place and Papua New Guinea shouldve had to qualify?