Papua New Guinea National Rugby League Team
| Nickname (s) | The cumuls | ||
| Association | Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League | ||
| Trainer |
 Mal Meninga
|
||
| captain | Neville Costigan | ||
|
|||
|
Most international matches Stanley Gene (25) |
|||
|
First international 12:40 England (July 6, 1975)  |
|||
|
Biggest win 86: 6 Cook Islands (November 1998)  |
|||
|
Biggest defeat 0:82 Australia (October 7, 2000) |
|||
|
World Cup participations: 6 Best results: Quarterfinals 2000 |
|||
The Papua New Guinea National Rugby League team , also known by its nickname Kumuls , represents Papua New Guinea on an international level in the rugby league sport . It is one of the strongest national teams in the world and regularly takes part in the Rugby League World Cup. Rugby League is considered the national sport of Papua New Guinea.
history
Rugby League came to Papua New Guinea through Australian soldiers during World War II and quickly gained great popularity there. In 1975 the national team played their first international match, which they lost to England at 12:40 . From 1985 the Kumuls took part in a world championship for the first time, and landed on the fourth of five places. At the next edition they finished last without a win. Only at the 2000 World Cup did Papua New Guinea convince with three wins and first place in the preliminary round, but failed in the quarter-finals to Wales . Then, however, there was no victory in the World Cup finals for 17 years. In 2009, however, the Kumuls won their first title with the Pacific Cup . In 2017 they co-hosted a World Cup finals for the first time and won all three preliminary round matches, but failed in the quarter-finals to England.