1991 Kangaroo tour of Papua New Guinea

The 1991 Kangaroo tour of Papua New Guinea was a two-week, end of season tour of Papua New Guinea by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played five matches on the tour, including two Test matches against the Papua New Guinea national rugby league team. The tour began on 29 September and finished on 13 October.^[1]

As of 2017 this remains the only full Kangaroo Tour of Papua New Guinea.

Leadership[]

As he had been since 1989, Bob Fulton was the coach of the Kangaroos. Mal Meninga was the team captain.

Touring squad[]

Eleven of the 23 man squad had played for Australia in their 2-1 Trans-Tasman Test series win over New Zealand earlier in the year. Among those selected to tour but who were ultimately ruled out with injury were Penrith test players and 1991 premiership winners Greg Alexander, Mark Geyer and John Cartwright as well as Canberra Raiders halves Laurie Daley and Ricky Stuart.

Player	Club	Position(s)	Games	Tests	Tries	Goals	F/Goals	Points
Gary Belcher	Canberra Raiders	Fullback	5	2	3	10	–	32
Martin Bella	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Prop	5	2	–	–	–	–
Willie Carne	Brisbane Broncos	Wing	5	2	8	–	–	32
Bradley Clyde	Canberra Raiders	Lock, Second-row	4	2	3	–	–	12
Gary Coyne	Canberra Raiders	Second-row, Prop	4	2	–	–	–	–
Andrew Ettingshausen	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Centre	4	2	3	–	–	12
Brad Fittler	Penrith Panthers	Lock, Centre	5	2	4	–	–	16
Andrew Gee	Brisbane Broncos	Second-row	1	0	–	–	–	–
Scott Gourley	St George Dragons	Second-row, Lock	4	1	3	–	–	12
Peter Jackson	North Sydney Bears	Five-eighth, Centre	4	1	3	–	–	12
Chris Johns	Brisbane Broncos	Wing, Centre	5	2	2	–	–	8
Glenn Lazarus	Canberra Raiders	Prop	5	2	1	–	–	4
Cliff Lyons	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Five-eighth	5	2	3	–	–	12
Mark McGaw	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Centre	1	0	–	–	–	–
Bruce McGuire	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Second-row	1	0	–	–	–	–
Mal Meninga (c)	Canberra Raiders	Centre	3	2	2	6	–	20
Steve Roach	Balmain Tigers	Prop	1	0	–	–	–	–
Ian Roberts	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Second-row	4	1	–	–	–	4
Craig Salvatori	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Second-row	1	–	–	–	–	–
Geoff Toovey	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Halfback	5	2	1	–	–	4
Kerrod Walters	Brisbane Broncos	Hooker	4	2	–	–	–	–
Kevin Walters	Brisbane Broncos	Halfback, Hooker	5	2	1	–	–	4
Rod Wishart	Illawarra Steelers	Wing	4	2	4	4	–	24

Tour[]

The Australian's played five games on the tour, winning all five.

Sunday, 29 September

Northern Zone	6 – 40	Australia
Tries: Goals: David Buko (3)	[2]	Tries: Bradley Clyde (2), Gary Belcher, Scott Gourley, Cliff Lyons, Mal Meninga, Geoff Toovey, Kevin Walters Goals: Mal Meninga (4/8)

Attendance: 10,300 Referee: Tom Pelas

Northern Zone: David Buko, , , , , , , , , , Nande Yer, (c), . Res - , , , .

Australia: Gary Belcher, Willie Carne, Mal Meninga (c), Andrew Ettingshausen, Rod Wishart, Peter Jackson, Geoff Toovey, Martin Bella, Kevin Walters, Glenn Lazarus, Craig Salvatori, Ian Roberts, Bradley Clyde. Res - Cliff Lyons, Brad Fittler, Chris Johns, Scott Gourley.

Australian forward Craig Salvatori suffered an ankle injury during the game and did not play again on tour.

Wednesday, 2 October

Island Zone	25 – 42	Australia
Tries: , , Goals: (3) Field Goals: Bernard Bate	[3]	Tries: Brad Fittler (2), Peter Jackson (2), Willie Carne, Scott Gourley, Chris Johns Goals: Gary Belcher (5)

Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Graham Ainui

Island Zone: , , , , , , , , Bernard Bate, , , , . Res - , , , .

Australia: Gary Belcher (c), Willie Carne, Peter Jackson, Brad Fittler, Chris Johns, Cliff Lyons, Kevin Walters, Steve Roach, Kerrod Walters, Glenn Lazarus, Gary Coyne, Andrew Gee, Scott Gourley. Res - Geoff Toovey, Martin Bella, Ian Roberts, Andrew Ettingshausen.

1st Test[]

Reserve forward Scott Gourley who had made 5 rugby union test appearances for Australia in 1988 before switching to rugby league with St. George, became Australia's 41st dual-rugby international.

Sunday, 6 October

Papua New Guinea	2 – 58	Australia
Tries: Goals: Ipisa Wanega (1/1)	[4]	Tries: Willie Carne (3) Rod Wishart (3) Andrew Ettingshausen (2) Brad Fittler (2) Cliff Lyons Ian Roberts Goals: Gary Belcher (5/10) Mal Meninga (0/2)

, Goroka Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Dennis Hale Man of the Match: Willie Carne

Papua New Guinea

Australia

FB 1 Ipisa Wanega RW 2 RC 3 LC 4 LW 5 FE 6 (c) HB 7 PR 8 HK 9 PR 10 Daroa Ben-Moide SR 11 Max Tiri SR 12 LK 13 Joe Gispe Substitutions: IC 14 IC 15 Ngala Lapan IC 16 IC 17 Coach: Skerry Palanga

FB 1 Gary Belcher LW 2 Rod Wishart RC 3 Mal Meninga (c) LC 4 Andrew Ettingshausen RW 5 Willie Carne FE 6 Cliff Lyons HB 7 Geoff Toovey PR 8 Martin Bella HK 9 Kerrod Walters PR 10 Glenn Lazarus SR 11 Bradley Clyde SR 12 Ian Roberts LF 13 Brad Fittler Substitutions: IC 14 Chris Johns IC 15 Kevin Walters IC 16 Gary Coyne IC 17 Scott Gourley Coach: Bob Fulton

Wednesday, 9 October

Highlands Zone	3 – 28	Australia
Tries: Goals: (1) Field Goals: Gigmai Ongugo (1)	[5]	Tries: Gary Belcher, Willie Carne, Scott Gourley, Chris Johns, Glenn Lazarus Goals: Rod Wishart (4)

, Mount Hagen Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Moses Tolingling

Highlands Zone: John Okul, , David Gomia, , , , , , , , (c), , . Res - , , , .

Australia: Gary Belcher, Willie Carne, Chris Johns, Mark McGaw, Rod Wishart, Cliff Lyons, Geoff Toovey, Glenn Lazarus, Kevin Walters, Gary Coyne, Bruce McGuire, Scott Gourley, Bradley Clyde (c). Res - Kerrod Walters, Martin Bella, Brad Fittler, Peter Jackson.

Australia won a bruising encounter 28–3 over Highlands Zone in Mount Hagan.^[6]

2nd Test[]

This test match also doubled as a Group Stage game for the 1989-92 Rugby League World Cup. Gary Belcher, Martin Bella, Cliff Lyons and Gary Coyne all played their last tests for Australia.

Sunday, 13 October

Papua New Guinea	6 – 40	Australia
Tries: Goals: (1)		Tries: Willie Carne (3) Gary Belcher Andrew Ettingshausen Mal Meninga Peter Jackson Rod Wishart Bradley Clyde Goals: Mal Meninga (2/7) Gary Belcher (0/2)

Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby Attendance: 14,500 Referee: Dennis Hale Man of the Match: Willie Carne

Papua New Guinea

Australia

FB 1 RW 2 RC 3 LC 4 LW 5 Gideon Kouoru FE 6 (c) HB 7 PR 8 HK 9 PR 10 SR 11 SR 12 LK 13 Joe Gispe Substitutions: IC 14 IC 15 Ngala Lapan IC 16 IC 17 Coach: Skerry Palanga

FB 1 Gary Belcher LW 2 Rod Wishart RC 3 Mal Meninga (c) LC 4 Andrew Ettingshausen RW 5 Willie Carne FE 6 Peter Jackson HB 7 Geoff Toovey PR 8 Martin Bella HK 9 Kerrod Walters PR 10 Glenn Lazarus SR 11 Bradley Clyde SR 12 Ian Roberts LF 13 Brad Fittler Substitutions: IC 14 Cliff Lyons IC 15 Kevin Walters IC 16 Chris Johns IC 17 Gary Coyne Coach: Bob Fulton

Statistics[]

Leading Try Scorer

• 8 by Willie Carne

Leading Point Scorer

• 32 by Gary Belcher (3 tries, 10 goals) and Willie Carne (8 tries)

Largest Attendance

• 17,000 - First test vs Papua New Guinea at Lloyd Robson Oval

Largest non-test Attendance

• 10,300 - Australia vs Northern Zone

References[]

External links[]