Living on a prayer as church members cheer on rugby team

But Papua New Guinea will be cheered on by a group of special supporters as they kick off the first Rugby League World Cup match in Leeds tonight.

Members of the City Evangelical Church in Leeds, who have been to Papua New Guinea to do missionary work, are preparing to make some noise as the team takes on New Zealand.

Leeds Rhinos’ Jamie Jones-Buchanan, who is also a member of the church, has previously donated dozens of the team’s shirts to give to children in the country.

Local teacher Helen Allman, 31, lived in Papua New Guinea for 18 months and visited the country several times to volunteer with literacy work through Wycliffe Bible Translation.

She said: “People often don’t know where Papua New Guinea is on a map but it is an absolutely beautiful country made up of intense rainforest and tribes who have grown up never seeing other tribes. There are around 600 languages, which are all totally distinct from each other.”

She added: “I have got a lot of good memories of being there and will be going to the match to support them as a representative of my friends over there, who I’m still in touch with.”

The Rugby League World Cup game will kick off at Headingley at 8pm.