Kumuls to defend Pacific Bowl
The PNG Kumuls will aim to defend the Pacific Bowl this year when they face Fiji and Cook Islands again, as the NRL released the draws today.
In a major development, the 2024 edition will see the introduction of promotion and relegation with the winners of the Pacific Bowls to play off against the third-placed Pacific Cup nations.
Taking part in the inaugural Pacific Bowl Championship last year saw, PNG Kumuls claimed the Bowl beating Fiji Bati in the finals, 32-12 in the NRL-sanctioned initiative.
And this year, the PNG Kumuls, now under new Coach Jason Demetriou will be looking to maintain their success and hopefully rub shoulders with one of the three team from the Cup play offs, which include, Australia, New Zealand and Tonga.
Today the NRL announced the draws for the Pacific Championships. which will be played in four countries across four consecutive weekends in October and November.
And the 2024 edition will see the introduction of promotion and relegation with the winner of the Pacific Bowls to play off against the third-placed Pacific Cup nations for a place in their respective 2025 Pacific Cup pools.
This means that if the Kumuls can win the Bowl, they will have a shot against either the Australian Kangaroos, New Zealand Kiwis or Tonga.
According to the draws, the Kumuls will take on the Fiji Bati on Saturday 19th October in Suva and then they will face off with Cook Islands on November 3rd in Port Moresby at the National Football Stadium.
If they finish on top, they will face off with the third placed Cup team on the 10th of November at the CommBank Stadium in Sydney.
The weight of coaching the passionate Kumuls now is on the shoulders of newly appointed coach Jason Demetrio who told NRL this week that he plans on helping the Kumuls improve their International Rugby League rankings.
In terms of securing high profile players, Demetrio has options in the NRL to select the likes of Xavier Coates and Jack De Berlin, however injury concerns for Alex Johnston, Justin Olam and Zac Laybutt could be a setback until more information is gathered on their availability to play for the Kumuls at the end of this year.
Demetriou also has options to select the UK based players in the likes of Lachlan Lam, Edwin Ipape, Rodrick Tai and Nene Macdonald to name a few.