Australia 46–6 Papua New Guinea — Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup
9 Nov 2008 · Willows Sports Complex, Townsville, Australia · Attendance: 16,239
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup: Australia 46–6 Papua New Guinea, at Willows Sports Complex, Townsville, Australia on 9 Nov 2008.
Scorers
| Australia | Tries: Williams (3); Monaghan (2); Prince (2); Tupou Goals: Thurston (7/8) |
| Papua New Guinea | Tries: Yere Goals: Wilshere (1/1) |
Teams
| Australia | Papua New Guinea | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karmichael Hunt | Fullback | John Wilshere (c) | 1 |
| 2 | Darius Boyd | Wing | David Mead | 2 |
| 3 | Brent Tate | Centre | Menzie Yere | 3 |
| 4 | Joel Monaghan | Centre | Anton Kui | 4 |
| 5 | David Williams | Wing | Tu'u Maori | 5 |
| 6 | Terry Campese | Stand off/Five eighth | Stanley Gene | 6 |
| 7 | Johnathan Thurston | Scrum half/Half back | Keith Peters | 7 |
| 8 | Brent Kite | Prop forward | Jason Chan | 8 |
| 9 | Cameron Smith (c) | Hooker | Paul Aiton | 9 |
| 10 | Josh Perry | Prop forward | Trevor Exton | 10 |
| 11 | Anthony Watmough | Second row | Neville Costigan | 11 |
| 12 | Anthony Tupou | Second row | James Nightingale | 12 |
| 13 | Craig Fitzgibbon | Loose forward/Lock forward | Rod Griffin | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| Interchange | Scott Prince | Kevin Prior | Interchange | |
| Interchange | Steve Price | Nico Slain | Interchange | |
| Interchange | Paul Gallen | Jessie Joe Parker | Interchange | |
| Interchange | Israel Folau | Jay Aston | Interchange | |
| Ricky Stuart | Coach | Adrian Lam | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Steve Ganson (England) |
| Touch judges | Adam Burns — single-sourced, James Child — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Not confirmed to Tier-1 standard |
Match report
Australia beat Papua New Guinea 46-6 at Townsville, David Williams scoring a hat-trick on his Test debut.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Papua New Guinea 12–62 Australia
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 70–8 Papua New Guinea
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Papua New Guinea 6–40 Australia
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 36–14 Papua New Guinea