Papua New Guinea Kumuls
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| Nickname | The Kumuls | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governing body | Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League | ||||||
| Region | Asia-Pacific | ||||||
| Head coach | Michael Marum | ||||||
| Captain | David Mead | ||||||
| Most caps | Stanley Gene, John Wilshere (16) | ||||||
| Home stadium | Lloyd Robson Oval | ||||||
| RLIF ranking | 11th | ||||||
| First game | |||||||
 England 40–12 Papua New Guinea  (Port Moresby, PNG; 6 July 1975) |
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| Biggest win | |||||||
 Cook Islands 6–86 Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby, PNG; November 1998) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||||||
 Australia 82–0 Papua New Guinea (Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville; 7 October 2000) |
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| World Cup | |||||||
| Appearances | 6 (first time in 1985–1988) | ||||||
| Best result | Quarter-finals, 2000 | ||||||
The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea internationally in the sport of rugby league football.
In Papua New Guinea, Rugby league is highly popular and is regarded as the country’s national sport. The national side are known as the Kumuls ("birds-of-paradise" in Tok Pisin). Many Papua New Guinean players have left the country in order to pursue professional rugby league careers in Great Britain and Australia.
A team representing Papua New Guinea (generally made up of a mixture of locally based players and International Players) plays an Australian Prime Minister's XIII in an annual match in Port Moresby at the Lloyd Robson Oval. The Australian side consists mostly of developing players from the premier competition the National Rugby League (NRL), as well as a couple of veterans.
Rugby league was first played in Papua New Guinea in the late forties; it was introduced to the nation by Australian soldiers stationed there during and after the Second World War. Papua New Guinea were admitted to the game’s International Federation in 1974. On 6 July 1975, at Lloyd Robnson Oval, in Port Moresby the Kumuls played their first ever international. They were beaten 40-12 by England. The English team were en route to Australia and New Zealand to fulfil away fixtures during the 1975 World Cup.
They first entered the Rugby League World Cup for the 1985-89 competition, though it was not until 1995 that they won away from home. In 1987 The Kumuls stage their first full test playing tour of Britain, after playing BARLA opposition in 1979. They lost the test 42-0 at Central Park, Wigan.
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