Australia will count the cost of the 50-0 win over its PNG rivals in the women’s Prime Minister’s XIII match, with Lauren Brown suffering an injury only days out from the Pacific Championships.
Gold Coast Titans utility Brown went down clutching her left hamstring after dropping the kick-off following Jaime Chapman’s second try in Port Moresby on Sunday afternoon.
She came from the field and watched from the sidelines as Australia stormed to a match-defining 44-0 half-time lead.
Brown finished the NRLW season as joint runner-up for the Dally M Medal and looked assured of a spot in the Jillaroos’ 17-player squad for the Pacific Championships opener against PNG on Friday.
Instead, Jillaroos coach Brad Donald will be left deliberating whether to promote a playmaker into the squad to join Ali Brigginshaw and Tarryn Aiken.
Jesse Southwell showed she would be up to the task after tearing the shell-shocked Orchids apart on the edges before half-time.
The Newcastle playmaker threw the last pass for three of Australia’s eight first-half tries, including when she put newly fit captain Kezie Apps into a hole.
Australia needed only 17 tackles inside the Orchids’ half to storm to their 44-0 lead, with Chapman’s try from the kick-off a particular highlight after the first drinks break.
The Orchids brought renewed defensive intensity to the second half but remained error-prone with the ball and could not exert pressure with their kicking game.
But restricting Australia to six points in the second half will be a source of confidence in PNG, where a semi-professional women’s league played its first season this year.
Left winger Keele Browne crossed through a gaping hole to seal her hat-trick in Australia’s only four-pointer of the second half.
AAP
