They’re as tough as some of our boys: Mead

Sports

PNG Kumuls captain David Mead revealed that his side were guilty of reading their own press and buying into the hype in their 14-6 win over Ireland.
The 29-year-old paid the Irish a compliment saying the Wolfhounds were determined and tested his side throughout the match at the Oil Search Football Stadium.
“I think we probably got too excited, trying to score points like we did last week against Wales and we didn’t respect the Ireland team like we should have and we didn’t earn the right to play that sort of style,” Mead said.
“Last week we played tough, held on to the ball and completed our sets but we’ve learned something from this and that is something we’ll work on this week.
“Ireland played tough right from the start, they came out firing and they held that intensity throughout the match.
“They’re certainly a quality side and that is why they beat Italy last week. They’ve a lot of Super League experience.
“They’re as tough as some of our PNG boys I thought, they ran hard and kept us on our toes at the back end of that second half. “It was a pretty scrappy game. There were a lot of dropped balls and the positive thing we spoke off was that we were able to defend our line and we didn’t let them score.
“The only try they scored was from an error from a kick which was something that happened last week against Wales so certainly a huge credit to the players for defending right across the field.   “Defence is something we’re continuously working on because I think previously a lot of teams scored points on us at the back end of the game so I thought we did well and we’re building on that,” Mead said.
Coach Michael Marum agreed with Mead saying they would take the lessons learned and improve for the tournament.