Teen debutant stars as Kiwis secure Pacific Cup safety

New Zealand have closed the curtain on a disappointing 2024 Pacific Cup campaign by avoiding relegation to the tournament's second-tier with a 54-12 victory over Papua New Guinea, while unearthing a future star in teenage debutant Casey McLean. 

Having lost the chance to defend the title they won last season by falling to Tonga in Week 2, the Kiwis faced being replaced by the Kumuls in the Cup for 2025 if they were unable to muster a result at CommBank Stadium in the promotion-relegation clash.

And early on PNG made them work for everything, with just four points between the two sides for much of the first half, but in the end the world No.2 Kiwis proved far too good. 

Crucial to New Zealand pulling away on the scoreboard was 18-year-old Panthers winger Casey McLean, who scored four tries (equaling the Kiwis record for a debutant set by Brian Jellick in 1999), and set up another.

He wasn't the only young player in Stacey Jones' squad to impress, with 20-year-old fullback Keano Kini immense at the back, running for 301 metres from 20 carries.

At the other end of the spectrum Shaun Johnson bowed out of professional rugby league in style with five try assists, having paused plans to retire at the conclusion of the Warriors' NRL campaign after receiving an 11th-hour call-up to the national team. 

After McLean got things going in the fifth minute, Jamayne Isaako benefitted from a couple of late offloads from Peta Hiku and Johnson which set him free down a narrow corridor.

But what was shaping as a cake walk for the Kiwis soon became anything but. 

Sylvester Namo steamrolled through Joseph Tapine and James Fisher-Harris on his way to the line on 21 minutes, before the Kumuls blew a golden chance to hit the front when Liam Horne fumbled over the line without a defender near him and Rhyse Martin had a claim ruled out due to a teammate being offside. 

Appearing lost for options on the ball – and struggling to hold onto it in the first place on some occasions – New Zealand looked set to lead by just four at the break before they turned it on to strike twice in the final two minutes of the half and instead go 22-16 up. 

First Leo Thompson charged over after some hot-potato footy, before McLean bamboozled PNG down the left to put Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad over. 

The next had a heartfelt storyline attached to it, with Johnson, in his last Test, kicking for McLean to score the second of what is likely to be many tries in the black jersey. 

After McLean grabbed his third and fourth of the night which put the result well and truly beyond doubt, Papua New Guinea halted things briefly with a hit back through Cowboys prospect Robert Derby. 

A quickfire double from Isaako, which gave him three for the night, came either side of Naufahu Whyte going over, to take the Kiwis up over the half century mark.