Uate exited the game late in the first half and had a moon boot on his ankle at full-time before he emotionally broke down in front of his teammates in the changing room, fearing he'd represented the Bati for the final time.

Saturday's triumph was also an emotional one for the Kumuls whose four-try first-half blitz allowed them to honour their fallen comrade Ottio in the best way possible.

The Kumuls wore black armbands in respect of Ottio who passed away aged 23 in January, after collapsing with heat stroke during preseason training.

"We wanted to have armbands in memory of him, we really missed Kato in camp with us and also out on the field," PNG coach Michael Marum said.

"That gave us a bit more motivation to go out there and do well for the country and also the family for Kato.

"On Monday we all turned up and it was late so we just got into rooms and set up a meeting Tuesday morning. We went through what we had to do and there was one thing that we spoke about, it was Kato.

"This morning we saw some video about what he did for us. It's a great team effort today.

"Back home there are big celebrations. We've beaten Fiji twice now, it's good for the people up there, they're going through tough times at the moment back home, there's a few issues with in fighting up there.

"Today's probably time they could sit out together and forget about fighting."

Winger Junior Rau scored a double for PNG in the first half, while bullocking prop Luke Page and fullback Justin Olam also crossed for tries.

Olam left the game late in the second half with an ankle injury, which looks set to cost the Melbourne Storm back some time on the sidelines.

After trailing 26-4 at the break in interim coach Matt Adamson's first game in charge, Fiji rallied in the second stanza and threatened a monumental comeback.

Canterbury's Marcelo Montoya scored out wide before Storm superstar Suliasi Vunivalu whittled the Kumuls' lead away to 12 with 11 minutes to play.

Uate, who recently signed a deal with English Super League club Huddersfield which could prevent him from representing Fiji in the future, could only watch on from the sideline as the latest member of Manly's bulging casualty ward.

"He's emotional, he's going off to England and just broke down in front of the boys, thinking it might be his last Test," Adamson said. "If guys go over to the UK playing Super League which is a career choice, they still should have the opportunity to be brought back.

"Losing Aku...he's such an important leader in our group. We lost it in that first half, turned the ball over, gave away penalties. I was really proud of the second half, we talked about it at half-time we needed to be in that energy battle, we got knocked over in that energy battle in the first half."

Marum was delighted with his team's resolve after the break.

"They are a strong side, we knew it was going to be tough," Marum said. "Our boys had a really great first half and put on a few points there and our defensive effort in the second half was really outstanding."

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 26 (J Rau 2, L Page, J Olam tries, R Martin 5 goals) def FIJI 14 (T Phillips, M Montoya, S Vunivalu tries, S Moceidreke goal)

Referee: Matt Cecchin
HT: PNG 26-4