League: Kumuls take a pummeling

Sam Perrett of the Kiwis scores a try during the Four Nations match between the New Zealand Kiwis and Papua New Guinea. Photo / Getty Images

The Kiwis will have learned little after last night's 76-12 trouncing of Papua New Guinea at Rotorua International Stadium.

They know they are likely Four Nations' finalists unless England can upset Australia tonight. But they won't know a lot more.

The much-touted physical PNG defence was regularly non-existent as New Zealand ran in 14 tries to two. Sometimes it looked like they were pacing through moves at training, such was the ease.

The downside of the Kiwis running rampant is that it won't give them much of a head start for the Australia test at Eden Park next week - when a green and gold curtain will come crashing down.

You could not fault the passion of Stephen Kearney's side. They were emphatic in their execution. They defended their line strongly for the first 55 minutes despite the looseness of the game as the ball was thrown around.

The Kiwis played with flair and the crowd got its money's worth. Raucous applause acknowledged the Benji Marshall backflip passes, Shaun Kenny-Dowall's elusiveness and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Sika Manu and their bullocking runs.

The latter two returned to the side after missing last week's match. New Zealand dominated with a strong completion rate, helped by the fact the ball was in their hands so often, but they offloaded and broke tackles at will.

Marshall knows how to put on a good show at five-eighth, especially when he's got a blank canvas of a field to work on and limited heat on him.

His entertaining antics were backed up by Lance Hohaia when the captain took a spell. A highlight was a laser-guided kick which found Sam Perrett for his hat-trick midway through the second half.

Nathan Fien also put together another solid showing at halfback. Thomas Leuluai and Issac Luke excelled at swapping in the hooker role - one coach Kearney must feel earned its keep, even in such a lopsided contest. Their accuracy with the ball in hand, finding runners to probe the channel next to the ruck, was pinpoint.

It was always going to be difficult for PNG to salvage a credible performance coming off the back of a 42-0 pounding at the hands of Australia. They were devoid of energy and New Zealand had already clocked up more points than the Australians - 44-0 - by the break. The scoreboard attendant had a big night.

The Kumuls' traditional huge hits - the type which leave opposition players fearing for their physical welfare going into every tackle - were largely absent. That might be explained by the fact they had to make almost twice as many tackles as New Zealand.

A couple that did connect were made on hometown hero Waerea-Hargreaves but only served to fire him up further. A tackling exception could be made for PNG's sole NRL player and captain Paul Aiton, who put in some hard graft at lock.

PNG had a brief respite midway through the second half. A soft try was conceded by the Kiwis to centre Emmanuel Yere, then the visitors produced one of the tries of the match, showing that flair wasn't totally a Kiwi commodity.

Hooker Charlie Wabo chipped and regathered midfield, fed to Toyota Cup fullback Ryan Tongia who drew and passed to five-eighth Glen Nami.

It is a shame for the Papua New Guineans that they face news of A$4m of Australian taxpayer funding being withheld from developing the game in their homeland because of boardroom struggles.

On top of that, this result was the last thing fans needed in the island's national sport.

New Zealand 76 (S. Perrett 3, S. Mannering, J. Smith 2, J. Sau 3, L. Hohaia, G. Eastwood, I. Luke, J. Nightingale, S. Manu tries, B. Marshall 8 goals, Luke 2 goals)

Papua New Guinea 12 (E. Yere, G. Nami tries, R. Tongia 2 goals). Halftime: 44-0.