The Cook Islands under 18 resident rugby league squad had the small but rowdy crowd at the BCI Stadium on Friday night bursting with pride as the young local boys thumped their brothers in the NZ Kukis side 32-4 in the first of three games between these two teams.

The local under 18 team will face the under 18 NZ Kukis again today at 4.30pm as the curtain raiser match to the main senior league game between the senior resident Cook Islands team and the NZ Kuki team who beat the Australian Kuki team on Friday night.

If the local under 18 team put on a similar performance as they did on Friday afternoon local fans can expect another try scoring fiesta.

After their first two attempts to cross the line were held up the local lads regrouped and with ball in hand team captain Robert Heather crashed through the NZ Kuki defence to put their first points on the board. The sure boot of Taime Tangatapoto added the two extra points to give the Cooks an early 6-0 lead over their NZ brothers.

The teams were evenly matched and both played big defensive games which resulted in a low scoring first half, but Avatius Basil Matapo slipped through the NZ Kuki defenders to dot down on the half time whistle to give the local side a handy 10-0 lead.

Back in the second half it was the NZ Kukis who caught the local boys napping when Maa Nonu lookalike DJ Oneroa scored a beautiful wingers try to put his team on the board 10-4.

But it was to be the only points the NZ Kukis would score in the game as the local boys piled on 4 more tries via captain Robert Heather who dotted down for his second try of the afternoon.

Gideon Ama burrowed his way under NZ Kuki defenders to score a try of his own before Mana Ngaau executed a beautiful runaway try to score between the posts.

The final points of the evening came via Taime Tangapoto who cruised straight through the NZ Kuki defenders.

The young man converted his own try to bring the final score to 32-4 and for his efforts was named most valuable player of the game.

The two sides will squad off again this evening and no doubt the NZ Kukis will have new strategies in place to stop the local side from running up another big score.

The final match between these two teams will be played on Thursday in what will be a big afternoon of rugby league action at the BCI Stadium.

The Cook Islands under 18 resident rugby league squad had the small but rowdy crowd at the BCI Stadium on Friday night bursting with pride as the young local boys thumped their brothers in the NZ Kukis side 32-4 in the first of three games between these two teams.

The local under 18 team will face the under 18 NZ Kukis again today at 4.30pm as the curtain raiser match to the main senior league game between the senior resident Cook Islands team and the NZ Kuki team who beat the Australian Kuki team on Friday night.

If the local under 18 team put on a similar performance as they did on Friday afternoon local fans can expect another try scoring fiesta.

After their first two attempts to cross the line were held up the local lads regrouped and with ball in hand team captain Robert Heather crashed through the NZ Kuki defence to put their first points on the board. The sure boot of Taime Tangatapoto added the two extra points to give the Cooks an early 6-0 lead over their NZ brothers.

The teams were evenly matched and both played big defensive games which resulted in a low scoring first half, but Avatius Basil Matapo slipped through the NZ Kuki defenders to dot down on the half time whistle to give the local side a handy 10-0 lead.

Back in the second half it was the NZ Kukis who caught the local boys napping when Maa Nonu lookalike DJ Oneroa scored a beautiful wingers try to put his team on the board 10-4.

But it was to be the only points the NZ Kukis would score in the game as the local boys piled on 4 more tries via captain Robert Heather who dotted down for his second try of the afternoon.

Gideon Ama burrowed his way under NZ Kuki defenders to score a try of his own before Mana Ngaau executed a beautiful runaway try to score between the posts.

The final points of the evening came via Taime Tangapoto who cruised straight through the NZ Kuki defenders.

The young man converted his own try to bring the final score to 32-4 and for his efforts was named most valuable player of the game.

The two sides will squad off again this evening and no doubt the NZ Kukis will have new strategies in place to stop the local side from running up another big score.

The final match between these two teams will be played on Thursday in what will be a big afternoon of rugby league action at the BCI Stadium.