# PNG Prime Minister's XIII

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PNG PM's XIII, is the name of a representative rugby league team, comprising Papua New Guinean players from the Papua New Guinea National Rugby League, PNG Hunters and other overseas clubs. The team is selected to play an annual fixture against Australian Prime Minister's XIII in Papua New Guinea in the final weeks of the rugby league season.

## History

The PNG Prime Minister's XIII first played against their Australian counterparts in 2005 at Lloyd Robson Oval in the Papua New Guinean capital, Port Moresby. The team was coached in that match by former national team head coach Bob Bennett. The side has also been coached by former Papua New Guinean internationals Adrian Lam and Stanley Gene and is currently coached by Michael Marum, who played for the team in 2005.
Originally played in Port Moresby, in recent years the games have been held in various locations around Papua New Guinea, including Lae and Kokopo. Unlike regular international matches, each team is allowed a five-man bench and given unlimited interchanges throughout the match.
Originally, the team was made up of players predominantly from the local Papua New Guinea National Rugby League competition. In recent years, players from the National Rugby League, Intrust Super Cup and English Championship have also been selected.
The match is also used to promote rugby league, as well as humanitarian causes such as HIV and AIDS awareness, among the Papua New Guinean community.
The PNG PM's XIII has never won a match against Australia since the annual fixture commenced, but managed a 24–24 draw in 2007, after trailing 20–0 at half time. In 2019, the PNG PM's XIII did not play the Australian side, who instead faced the Fiji Prime Minister's XIII.

## Results
### 2005

* 18 September 2005
| PNG PM's XIII | 0 – 34 | Australian PM's XIII |
| | Report | Tries 2 Ryan Cross 1 Braith Anasta 1 Brett Finch 1 Kurt Gidley 1 Luke Priddis Goals 1 Clinton Schifcofske 1 Kurt Gidley 1 Luke Ricketson |
* Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Shayne Hayne

### 2006

* 30 September 2006
| PNG PM's XIII | 8 – 28 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Tom O'Reilly 2 | Report | Tries 2 Jarryd Hayne 1 Nathan Merritt 1 Steve Price 1 Brett Stewart 1 Trent Waterhouse Goals 2 Matt Orford |
* Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Referee: Bill Harrigan

### 2007

* 23 September 2007
| PNG PM's XIII | 24 – 24 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Nigel Hukula 1 Jessie Joe Nandye 1 Keith Peters 1 Menzie Yere 1 Goals Gimapau Keimelo 4 | Report | Tries 2 Chris Lawrence 2 Joel Monaghan 1 Luke Douglas Goals 2 Kurt Gidley |
* Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Gavin Badger

### 2008

* 28 September 2008
| PNG PM's XIII | 30 – 54 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Stanley Gene 2 Menzie Yere 2 Nickson Kolo 1 Junior Ropra 1 Goals Tu'u Maori 3 | Report | Tries 2 Jarryd Hayne 2 Chris Lawrence 1 Robbie Farah 1 Nathan Hindmarsh 1 Michael Jennings 1 Josh Morris 1 Joe Picker 1 Carl Webb Goals 6 Scott Prince 1 Terry Campese |
* Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Bernard Sutton

### 2009

* 27 September 2009
| PNG PM's XIII | 18 – 42 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Tommy Butterfield 1 Seigfried Gande 1 Jessie Joe Nandye 1 Goals Glen Nami 3/3 | Report | Tries 3 Michael Jennings 1 George Rose 1 Matthew Scott 1 David Shillington 1 Glenn Stewart Goals 7/7 Johnathan Thurston |
* Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Brett Suttor

### 2010

* 26 September 2010
| PNG PM's XIII | 18 – 30 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Nickson Kolo 2 Glen Nami 1 Goals Ryan Tongia 3 | Report | Tries 1 Luke Douglas 1 Chris Sandow 1 Ben Smith 1 Kade Snowden 1 Willie Tonga 1 Akuila Uate Goals 2 Corey Parker 1 James Maloney |
* Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 10,856 Referee: Tony De Las Heras

### 2011

* 25 September 2011
| PNG PM's XIII | 22 – 36 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Josiah Abavu 1 Dion Aiye 1 Jessie Joe Nandye 1 Ray Thompson 1 Goals Glen Nami 3 | Report | Tries 2 Blake Ferguson 2 Josh Morris 1 Luke Burt 1 Nathan Merritt Goals 3 Luke Burt 1 Matthew Bowen 1 Michael Crocker 1 Nathan Hindmarsh |
* Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium, Lae Attendance: 16,528 Referee: Adam Devcich

### 2012

* 23 September 2012
| PNG PM's XIII | 18 – 24 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Richard Kambo 1 David Loko 1 Albert Patak 1 Matthew Puke 1 Goals Israel Eliab 1/4 | Report | Tries 1 Michael Jennings 1 Feleti Mateo 1 Beau Ryan 1 Akuila Uate Goals 4/4 Scott Prince |
* Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Phil Haines

### 2013

* 29 September 2013
| PNG PM's XIII | 10 – 50 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Josiah Abavu 1 Israel Eliab 1 Goals Sebastian Pandia 1 | Report | Tries 2 Jarryd Hayne 1 Kevin Gordon 1 Brett Morris 1 Josh Papalii 1 Aidan Sezer 1 David Shillington 1 James Tamou 1 Brent Tate Goals 6 Aidan Sezer 1 Corey Parker |
* Kalabond Oval, Kokopo Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Gavin Morris

### 2014

* 12 October 2014
| PNG PM's XIII | 16 – 34 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Thompson Teteh 2 Israel Eliab 1 Goals Noel Zeming 2 | Report | Tries 2 Aaron Woods 1 Will Chambers 1 Josh Mansour 1 Anthony Milford 1 Beau Scott Goals 3 Ben Hunt 2 Matt Moylan |
* Kalabond Oval, Kokopo Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Grant Atkins

### 2015

* 26 September 2015
| PNG PM's XIII | 12 – 40 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries Watson Boas 1 Justin Olam 1 Goals Alfred Missian 2 | Report | Tries 2 David Nofoaluma 1 Euan Aitken 1 Jarrod Croker 1 Alex Johnston 1 Jeremy Latimore 1 Chris McQueen 1 Jack Wighton Goals 2 Jarrod Croker 2 Adam Reynolds |
* Sir John Guise Stadium, Port Moresby Attendance: 18,113 Referee: Gavin Reynolds

### 2016

* 24 September 2016
| PNG PM's XIII | 0 – 58 | Australian PM's XIII |
| | Report | Tries: 3 Mitchell Moses 2 Josh Dugan 2 Blake Ferguson 2 Greg Inglis 1 Moses Mbye 1 Semi Radradra Goals: 4 Matt Moylan 3 Mitchell Moses |
* National Football Stadium, Port Moresby Attendance: 15,011 Referee: David Munro

### 2017

* 23 September 2017
| PNG PM's XIII | 8 – 48 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries: Stanford Talita 1 Goals: Jason Missian 2/2 | Report | Tries: 3 Tom Trbojevic 3 James Tedesco 1 Tyson Frizell 1 James Maloney Goals: 6/6 James Maloney 1/1 Andrew Fifita 1/1 Valentine Holmes |
* National Football Stadium, Port Moresby Attendance: 13,468

### 2018

* 6 October 2018
| Papua New Guinea | 18 – 34 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries: Kyle Laybutt 1 Rhyse Martin 1 Justin Olam 1 Goals: Rhyse Martin 3/3 | 1st: 6 – 24 2nd: 12 – 10 Report | Tries: 2 Daly Cherry-Evans 1 Corey Allan 1 Nick Cotric 1 Chad Townsend 1 Jake Trbojevic Goals: 5/6 Zac Lomax |
* National Football Stadium, Port Moresby Attendance: 14,007 Referee: Chris Sutton

### 2022

* 25 September 2022
| Australia | 64 - 14 | PNG PM's XIII |
| Tries: Matt Burton (22', 64') 2 Selwyn Cobbo (29', 79') 2 Nat Butcher (2') 1 Josh Addo-Carr (9') 1 Angus Crichton (12') 1 Zac Lomax (14') 1 Jake Averillo (33') 1 Sam Walker (69') 1 Dane Laurie (72') 1 Beau Fermor (74') 1 Goals: Zac Lomax 8/11 (3', 11', 13', 15', 24', 71', 73', 75') Josh Addo-Carr 0/1 | 1st: 38 – 4 2nd: 26 – 10 | Tries: Edene Gebbie 1 Jimmy Ngutlik 1 Brandon Nima 1 Goals: Kyle Laybutt 1/3 |
* Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 8,744 Referee: Todd Smith

### 2023

* 23 September 2023
| PNG PM's XIII | 18 – 30 | Australian PM's XIII |
| Tries: Nene Macdonald 4 Cruise Ten 46 Epel Kapinias 70 Goals: Zac Laybutt 3/3 | 1st: 6–12 2nd: 18–30 | Tries: Murray Taulagi 15 Hudson Young 33 Alofiana Khan-Pereira 58 Cameron McInnes 61 Tyrell Sloan 79 Goals: Zac Lomax 5/5 |
* Santos Stadium, Port Moresby Referee: Peter Gough

## Players
### Captains

* Keith Peters (2006–2007, 2009)
* Stanley Gene (2008)
* Paul Aiton (2010–2011)
* Charlie Wabo (2013)
* Israel Eliab (2014)
* Albert Patak (2015)
* Ase Boas (2016)
* Charlie Simon (2017)
* David Mead (2018)

## Coaches

* Bob Bennett (2005)
* Adrian Lam (2006–2009, 2011–2013)
* Stanley Gene (2010)
* Michael Marum (2014, 2016, 2018)
* Mal Meninga (2014)
* Stanley Tepend (2015, 2017, 2022)
* Justin Holbrook (2023)
* Jason Demetriou (2024-current)

## Records
### Individual

* Most games
** 8 Rodney Pora (2005–2012)
** 7 Paul Aiton (2006–2008, 2010–2011, 2013)
** 7 Jessie Joe Nandye (2005, 2007–2011, 2013)
** 7 Charlie Wabo (2005, 2007–2008, 2010–2013)
** 6 Larsen Marabe (2008–2013)
* Most tries
** 3 Nickson Kolo
** 3 Jessie Joe Nandye
** 3 Menzie Yere
* Most points
** 16 Glen Nami
** 12 Nickson Kolo
** 12 Jessie Joe Nandye
** 12 Menzie Yere
* Most tries in a match
** 2 Tom O'Reilly (2006)
** 2 Stanley Gene (2008)
** 2 Menzie Yere (2008)
** 2 Nickson Kolo (2010)
** 2 Thompson Teteh (2014)
* Most points in a match
** 10 Rhyse Martin (2018)