League: Aussies thrash PNG

A hat-trick of tries for Michael Jennings helped the Australian Prime Minister's XIII comfortably beat Papua New Guinea 42-18 at Lloyd Robson Oval tonight.

In a scrappy performance Australia outclassed PNG's Kumuls but it wasn't their brilliance that beat PNG's brawn.

Australia capitalised on numerous mistakes by the PNG side with several soft tries for the youngsters.

Australia led 18-12 at halftime.

Captain Johnathan Thurston, a crowd favourite, finished with seven conversions from Australia's seven tries.

PNG's second rower Sigfred Gande gave the crowd something to smile about 10 minutes from halftime with a strong run and four-pointer.

Five minutes later PNG reserve Tommy Butterfield scooted out of dummy half for a pushover try that had caught the Aussies napping.

Police fired tear gas and several live rounds as warnings to excited fans who didn't have a ticket but wanted to catch a glimpse of their Aussie heroes.

The crowd was a sell out 5000.

- AAP