Kumuls have a chance : Petero

WITH less than two months away from 2013 World Cup in England, former Australian Kangaroo Petero Civoneciva is convinced that the Papua New Guinea Kumuls will be the toughest opponent for the upcoming event.

“Their chances are good, they will be very strong during World Cup in England,” this was how Civoniceva described PNG’s prospects after playing against PNG Prime Minister’s Xlll (2006) and the PNG Kumuls in the Four Nations (2010).

According to the big Fijian Australian the acquisition of Queensland coach Mal Meninga as the Team Kumul coaching director in preparation for the 2013 and 2017 World Cups was a huge coup in rugby league. 

He said the local Kumuls would benefit greatly form the expertise of Meninga and coach Adrian Lam. 

Petero, who played under Meninga in the seven consecutive series wins said the former Canberra Raiders player had “tremendous rugby league knowledge of modern game” which the Kumuls would gain from as they take on teams like New Zealand, France and Samoa.

He said the World Cup in England in October may be too soon to see the effects of the training and development under the Meninga-Lam partnership but the fruit of the investment would really come to fruition in the 2017 World Cup.

Kumuls have a chance

The Maroons legend said PNG players were some of the toughest in world rugby league and would not be easy beats.

“When I played against them, I woke up sore the next day, and I know many of my Australian teammates also shared the same sentiments,” Civoniceva said with a smile.

“When you play the Kumuls, you know you’ve played the game of rugby league. PNG Kumuls are hard tacklers and hard runners with the ball, and they leave a legacy on the paddock.”

Civoniceva said the Kumuls’ toughness has a place in  the NRL as proven by former Melbourne Storm winger Marcus Bai and other PNG players who have played in NRL.

He gave the thumps up to the Team Kumuls’ the high performance training programme describing it as the great concept to improve the standard of the game and take it to the next level.

“This concept for PNG’s elite  players is not new but something all NRL clubs are doing week-in and week-out as part of their preparation. 

He added that the new level of training was to allow local players to be brought up to similar levels of preparation as other top teams.