IRL Men's Rugby League World Cup : Pool B & C

Sat 17th October 2026   - KO  14:25 - Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby , Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

42

FT

18

Half Time
18 - 12

Lebanon

Tries

Gairo VORO (8)
Robert DERBY (20)
Nixon PUTT (30)
Finley GLARE (42)
Epel KAPINIAS (48)
Rhyse MARTIN (71)
Bailey BIONDI-ODO (74)

Abbas MISKI (36,54)
Tony SUKKAR (40)

Goals

Rhyse MARTIN (7/7)

Alex CONTI (3/3)

Match Preview | PNG and Lebanon meet on Saturday in first IRL World Cup Group Stage game

Saturday, 17th October, sees Papua New Guinea and Lebanon go head-to-head in Port Moresby, in their opening group stage game in the 2026 IRL Men’s Rugby League World Cup (2:25pm KO local time).

The PNG Kumuls are led by the evergreen Rhyse Martin at his third World Cup, while centre Nene MacDonald takes part in his fourth World Cup.

Cowboys speedsters Zac Laybutt and Rob Derby will look to light it up out wide while Eels forwards Luca Moretti makes his Kumuls debut, having represented Italy in 2022.

NRL stars Jacob Kiraz, Jason Saab, Alex Twal and Jordan Samrani will lead the Cedars into battle against the Kumuls in Port Moresby. Twal captains the side at his second World Cup after playing in 2017, while Kiraz represented Lebanon at the 2022 World Cup.

Eels flyer Jordan Samrani and Wests Tigers forward Tony Sukkar make their Test debuts. Bulldogs youngster Alex Conti will steer the ship from halfback in the absence of Mitch Moses, who is representing Australia.

Papua New Guinea (squad): Morea MOREA, Robert DERBY, Zac LAYBUTT, Dudley DOTOI, Gairo VORO, Bailey Biondi-Odo, Valentine RICHARD, Luca MORETTI, Nixon PUTT, Jack DE BELIN, Finley GLARE, Liam HORNE, Epel KAPINIAS, Sylvester NAMO, Rodrick TAI, Sanny WABO, Robert MATHIAS, Khaiya WAIEMBI, Zev JOHN, Rhyse MARTIN, Edwin IPAPE, Nene MACDONALD

Lebanon (squad): Tony Jr FRANCIS, Michael GABRAEL, Jason SAAB, Khaled RAJAB, Alex CONTI, Jaxson RAHME, Yehya AYACHE, Tony SUKKAR, Moustafa DIRANI, Mikael IBRAHIM, Joseph NOHRA, Tupou FRANCIS, Mohamed ALAMEDDINE, Cameron KANAAN, Jacob KIRAZ, James ROUMANOS, Charbel TASIPALE, Alex TWAL, Jalal BAZZAZ, Khalil RAHME, Abbas MISKI, Jordan SAMRANI

13 October 2026
1 Morea MOREA
Full Back
Jacob KIRAZ 1
2 Robert DERBY
Right Wing
Tony Jr FRANCIS 2
3 Zac LAYBUTT
Right Centre
Michael GABRAEL 3
4 Nene MACDONALD
Left Centre
Jordan SAMRANI 4
5 Dudley DOTOI
Left Wing
Jason SAAB 5
6 Gairo VORO
Stand Off
Khaled RAJAB 6
7 Finley GLARE
Scrum Half
Alex CONTI 7
8 Valentine RICHARD
Prop
Jaxson RAHME 8
9 Edwin IPAPE
Hooker
Yehya AYACHE 9
10 Luca MORETTI
Prop
James ROUMANOS 10
11 Rhyse MARTIN
Second Row
Tony SUKKAR 11
12 Nixon PUTT
Second Row
Mikael IBRAHIM 12
13 Liam HORNE
Loose Forward
Alex TWAL 13
14 Bailey BIONDI-ODO
Int 1
Moustafa DIRANI 14
15 Jack DE BELIN
Int 2
Jalal BAZZAZ 15
16 Epel KAPINIAS
Int 3
Abbas MISKI 16
17 Sylvester NAMO
Int 4
Tupou FRANCIS 17
18 Rodrick TAI
Int 5
Khalil RAHME 18
19 Sanny WABO
Int 6
Joseph NOHRA 19

The PNG Kumuls have launched their 2026 World Cup campaign in grand style with a 42-18 victory over Lebanon in Port Moresby.

In front of a passionate home crowd at Santos National Football Stadium, the Kumuls opened the scoring in the eighth minute when five-eighth Gairo Voro pounced on a Cedars error and sprinted 60 metres to touch down.

A sweeping move to the right edge in the 19th minute led to the Kumuls' second try through Jason Saab before Voro turned provider in the 30th minute with a clean line break and a well-timed pass back inside for Nixon Putt to score.

With half-time looming the Cedars hit back with two tries in four minutes, the first through Abbas Miski with a dummy-half snipe on the back of a powerful charge from Tupou Francis and the second from Tony Sukkar after a Tony Francis intercept.

Leading 18-12 at the break the Kumuls exploded out of the blocks after half-time with Finley Glare picking up a loose pass and surging through the defence on the right edge.

Come the 48th minute and forwards Jack de Belin and Epel Kapinias combined superbly with the veteran Eels lock sending his prop over with a deft short ball. Rhyse Martin's fifth conversion of the day made it 30-12.

A second try to Miski in the 54th minute pulled Lebanon back within 12 before both sides had chances to score with Tony Francis creating opportunities for the Cedars with some explosive runs.

Francis finished the day with a whopping 292 run metres and seven tackle breaks while Jacob Kiraz ran for 207 metres.

Despite their bravery in defence for much of the second half, the Cedars finally cracked with eight minutes to go when Edwin Ipape put Martin over with a classy short ball from close range.

Ipape came up with another try assist three minutes later when he nudged a grubber into the in-goal for Bailey Biondi-Odo to follow through and beat Khaled Rajab to the ball for PNG's seventh try.

Playing in his 22nd Test match for the Kumuls, Martin was perfect with the boot with seven from seven to go with 93 run metres.

Wingers Robert Derby and Dudley Dotoi combined for 379 run metres while veteran centre Nene Macdonald racked up 203 metres as the Kumuls opened their World Cup in style.

17 October 2026