First-half blitz carries Aussie women to PM's XIII victory
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The star-studded Australian PM's XIII ran in nine tries on their way to a 50-0 victory over the PNG PM's XIII in Port Moresby on Sunday.
Keele Browne, Rory Owen and Jaime Chapman all bagged first-half doubles as Jess Skinner's team racked up a 44-0 lead at the break before the home side dug deep in the second term to keep Australia scoreless for the final 25 minutes.
It took the Australian side just three minutes to cross through Browne before Jesse Southwell came up with the first of her XXXX try assists to send Rory Owen over in the sixth minute.
Come the 10th minute and Southwell linked with Kirra Dibb and Shaylee Bent to put Chapman in for her first try, the long striding centre completing her double in the 18th minute when she ran 70 metres straight from a kick-off to score.
Berry throws the pass for Browne's second
Tries to Owen, Kezie Apps and Teagan Berry in the space of seven minutes saw the score blow out to 44-0 at the break, with Dibb adding five conversions and Lauren Brown one before leaving the field with a suspected hamstring injury.
After a tighter opening to the second half it was Browne completing her hat-trick in the 45th minute when the PNG defence couldn't recover quickly enough from a long-range Australia breakout.
Both sides were guilty of committing errors as the second half wore on but PNG hung tough and restricted Australia to just one second-half try.
Match: PNG PM XIII v AUS PM XIII
Game 2 -
home Team
PNG PM XIII
away Team
AUS PM XIII
Venue: Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby
Match Snapshot
- Australia have now won all four PM's XIII clashes against PNG with a combined score of 210-14.
- PNG superstar Elsie Albert was a late withdrawal for the PNG PM's XIII after the decision was made to save her for Friday's Pacific Championships opener against the Jillaroos.
- By the time the sides took a drinks break at the 18-minute mark the Australian side had 69 per cent of possession and came up with six line breaks to zero for PNG.
- PNG prop Jessikah Reeves had seven runs for 76 metres and made 17 tackles.
Jesse Southwell floats the pass for Owen
- Australian hooker Lauren Brown suffered a suspected hamstring injury during the first half and finished the day on crutches with ice on her leg.
- Australia fullback Teagan Berry ran for 126 metres in the first half and finished with 169 metres for the match.
- Jaime Chapman had seven tackle breaks and 142 run metres to go with her two tries for Australia.
- Jesse Southwell came up with three try assists and four line break assists for Australia.
- Keele Browne had eight tackle breaks and 193 run metres to go with her hat-trick.
Berry has too much pace for the PNG defence
Play of the Game
Chapman goes all the way from the kick-off
