The second round of group fixtures in the men's Rugby League World Cup comes to a close in Warrington on Tuesday as Papua New Guinea look to get themselves on track for a quarter-final spot when they face the Cook Islands in Group D at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of Tuesday’s action…
Papua New Guinea v Cook Islands - Group D
Where: Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington.
When: 7:30pm (BST)
TV: BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer
Referee: Chris Kendall (England)
Last meeting: Papua New Guinea 32-22 Cook Islands (Campbelltown, 2017)
Papua New Guinea’s RLWC so far: Lost to Tonga 18-24
Cook Islands' RLWC so far: Beat Wales 18-12
Having either won none of all of their group games since the inception of the World Cup finals tournament in 1995, Papua New Guinea will be looking to break the cycle on Tuesday by following a group loss with a win against the Cook Islands. They were only slightly second best against a multi-tooled Tonga in St Helens last week, so they will be hoping that a similar level of performance will see them past the Kukis in their second group fixture. Much relies on Rhyse Martin, who stands on the verge of a new rugby league world record having equalled the high mark for consecutive successful goal kicks with his 41st straight shot in the 24-18 loss to the Mate Ma'a.
Tony Iro's Cook Islands side will be hopeful of causing an upset having eventually seen off a spirited Wales performance first time out. They also beat the Dragons in their last participation in 2013 but lost their other two group fixtures and were eliminated at the first hurdle. Much may rely on their use of Brad Takairangi, who played a winning hand in their 18-12 success last week.
Sportsman stat: Papua New Guinea have won all three previous meetings between these two by a combined score of 120 points to 42, but the margins have got increasingly smaller. After victories by 40 and 28, their last meeting saw the Cook Islands edged out by just 10 points.
Betfred odds: Papua New Guinea 2/13, Cook Islands 5/1, draw 28/1
Favourites for first tryscorer: Dan Russell (Papua New Guinea) 7/1, Alex Johnston (Papua New Guinea) 7/1
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
