Cook Islanders arrive

The National Sports

THE Cook Islands rugby league team led by captain Brad Takairangi arrived in Port Moresby yesterday a little over three days ahead of their Pacific Championship Bowl Test against hosts the Papua New Guinea Kumuls on Sunday.
The former Parramatta Eel who now plays for a local club in the Illawarra local league in New South Wales south coast, Takairangi, and 2018 National Rugby League (NRL) premiership winner with the Roosters Zane Tetevano are the longest serving Kukis players and are eager to lead from the front.
Both 34-year-olds are not new to Port Moresby as they had been here as young men in the 2009 Pacific Cup and played for the Kukis side that lost 14-42 to a John Wilshire-captained Kumuls team in the cup final.
Takairangi said his men know what to expect going up against a quality Kumuls team who will have the home crowd behind them.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here (Port Moresby) as me and Zane are the only players in this squad that came here in 2009,” Takairangi said.
“We have a good young squad so I think it’ll be a great experience for them and they can see the PNG way of life and how they play rugby league.
“PNG has a really good side and we’ve come a long way over the last couple of years. While we are also very confident coming into this game, no one really gives us a chance, so hopefully we can go out there and make our country proud.
“We just have to stick together as a team. We know it’s going to be loud out there and there’s going to be a crowd out there that a lot of our boys have never played in front of before so we just have to embrace it, believe in each other.”
Coach Karmichael Hunt said the side had a good mix of experienced and young players and that he was confident they would compete.
“PNG has a lot of experience and NRL talent as well and it will be hard to overcome that when you play against them anywhere but playing them at their home will be a whole different challenge but it’s a challenge that we are looking to take on and it’s the one that we’ve prepared well for.”