New Zealand 48–6 Papua New Guinea — Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup
1 Nov 2008 · Robina Stadium, Gold Coast, Australia · Attendance: 11,278
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup: New Zealand 48–6 Papua New Guinea, at Robina Stadium, Gold Coast, Australia on 1 Nov 2008.
Scorers
| New Zealand | Tries: Ropati; Mannering (2); Perrett (2); Blair; Eastwood; Fa'alogo; Luke Goals: Inu (6/8) |
| Papua New Guinea | Tries: Kepa — disputed, see context Goals: Wilshere (1/1) |
Teams
| New Zealand | Papua New Guinea | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Hohaia | Fullback | John Wilshere (c) | 1 |
| 2 | Sam Perrett | Wing | David Mead | 2 |
| 3 | Krisnan Inu | Centre | Jessie Joe Parker | 3 |
| 4 | Jerome Ropati | Centre | Tu'u Maori | 4 |
| 5 | Manu Vatuvei | Wing | George Kepa | 5 |
| 6 | Benji Marshall | Stand off/Five eighth | Stanley Gene | 6 |
| 7 | Thomas Leuluai | Scrum half/Half back | Keith Peters | 7 |
| 8 | Nathan Cayless (c) | Prop forward | Makali Aizue | 8 |
| 9 | Nathan Fien | Hooker | Paul Aiton | 9 |
| 10 | Adam Blair | Prop forward | Trevor Exton | 10 |
| 11 | Simon Mannering | Second row | Neville Costigan | 11 |
| 12 | Setaimata Sa | Second row | James Nightingale | 12 |
| 13 | Jeremy Smith | Loose forward/Lock forward | Rod Griffin | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Isaac Luke | George Moni | 14 | |
| 15 | Greg Eastwood | Jason Chan | 15 | |
| 16 | Sam Rapira | Nickson Kolo | 16 | |
| 17 | David Fa'alogo | Charlie Wabo | 17 | |
| Stephen Kearney | Coach | Adrian Lam | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Steve Ganson (England) |
| Touch judges | Gerard Sutton — single-sourced, Paul Holland — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Not confirmed to Tier-1 standard |
Match report
New Zealand beat Papua New Guinea 48-6 at the Gold Coast, Jerome Ropati and Simon Mannering both scoring twice. PNG's try scorer is disputed — rugbyleagueproject.org credits George Kepa, while a Times report (via Wikipedia) names a player who cannot be found in any PNG roster record; the RLP version is used here as the more reliable source.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Papua New Guinea 24–22 New Zealand
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): New Zealand 66–14 Papua New Guinea
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Papua New Guinea 10–18 New Zealand
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): New Zealand 66–10 Papua New Guinea
- 1995 Rugby League World Cup (Group B): New Zealand 22–6 Papua New Guinea
- 2013 Rugby League World Cup (Group B): New Zealand 56–10 Papua New Guinea