Hull KR man stars but gets sin binned in Pacific Championships win

The second week of the Pacific Championships have seen a Hull KR man star but get sin binned as Papua New Guinea beat the Cook Islands 40-28.

That defeat for the Aitu means that they will finish third in their group, having lost to Fiji last week, but they were more competitive in Port Moresby against the Kumuls.

It was a Papua New Guinea side with lots of Super League representation with Lachlan Lam pulling the strings in the halves as Leigh’s Edwin Ipape played at hooker with new signings Liam Horne and Jacob Alick-Wiencke also featuring.

Salford’s Nene Macdonald and Hull KR man Rhyse Martin also played whilst ex-Castleford Tigers pair Nixon Putt and Sylvester Namo will also be names familiar to fans of Super League.

For the Cook Islands, they had Esan Marsters in the halves with Toulouse outside back Paul Ulberg on the wing as well.

Hull KR man scores 16 in international win

Despite the 40-28 scoreline, the game was competitive throughout with the Cook Islands actually taking a shock lead four minutes in.

Tries were exchanged from that point onwards with with Robert Derby scoring two in the first half, with Hull KR man Rhyse Martin’s try sandwiched between them as he crashed over from 10 yards out.

South Sydney star Alex Johnston scored on the brink of half time to give PNG a 22-12 lead but the Cook Islands weren’t going away, scoring first in the second half as tries were once again exchanged with each team score three in the second stanza.

The last of those came in the 79th minute as PNG put a seal on their win but it was closer than many expected and they could well be without captain Rhyse Martin for next week after he was sin binned late on.

Martin was sent to the bin for a professional foul with just eight seconds left of the game and whilst it doesn’t look likely to warrant a ban, he’ll still be nervy about the disciplinary verdict ahead of next week’s game against Fiji.

The Hull KR man also kicked six of seven conversions alongside his try to rack up an impressive 16 points with Lachlan Lam settin up Martin for one of his two assists.

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A great ball for Rhyse Martin! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/JaFaJjDm9J

— NRL (@NRL) October 25, 2025