10 Nov 2013

Sport: Kiwis steamroll Kumuls at Rugby League World Cup

11:32 am on 10 November 2013

Sonny Bill Williams scored a hat-trick as defending champions New Zealand steamrolled Papua New Guinea 56-10 in their final Rugby League World Cup Pool B match.

The Kiwis scored 10 tries in total in an ominous broadside ahead of next weekend's quarter-finals, while halfback Shaun Johnson followed up on his 24 points in the previous 48-0 victory over France with 16 more from the boot.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Dean Whare both crossed twice for New Zealand.

The 18,000-plus capacity crowd at Leeds' Headingley Carnegie Stadium erupted when PNG halfback Dion Aiye crossed under the posts, while Wellington Albert scored a late consolation try for PNG.

Kumuls coach Adrian Lam says there was a couple of great tries and it would have been nice to have a couple more.

He says he was really proud of his team for hanging in there.