Hayne’s hit gives hope for international league
Roar Guru By Alan Nicolea, 18 Nov 2008 Alan Nicolea is a Roar Guru
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- AFL, Australian captain, Billy Slater, Darren Lockyer, Israel Folau, Jarryd Hayne, Kangaroos, Karmichael Hunt, New Zealand, North Melbourne Kangaroos, NRL grand final, Parramatta, Rugby League, Thunder
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Fiji focused before, and subsequently after, their 52 point loss against Australia on just one thing – hope. Hope for a solid showing against the world champions. And hope for an upset of the highest order.
But it wasn’t to be the fairytale they’d prayed for.
Nine minutes in and Fiji found themselves sixteen-nil down thanks to two tries by Brent Tate and one to Billy Slater.
All hope was lost. In the blink of an eye, the Kangaroos had already torn Fiji apart and booked itself a Grand Final spot against New Zealand next week at Suncorp stadium.
Fiji on the other hand were now left to hope for something else.
After twenty or so minutes of the first half, ‘the Bati’ were praying that their semi-final appearance against the Australians would not yield a record breaking loss because, judging from the form of Kangaroos stars Lockyer, Thurston and Slater, there was a good chance of that happening.
Thankfully for the Fijians, their faith was rewarded.
Fiji started gaining more possession of the football in a first half that was already over as a contest. Eels star Jarryd Hayne got involved, providing a slick pass to captain Wes Naiqama to send him on a run down field.
Now this was drama. Naiqama was in the clear and only had Slater opposing him. What next?
Naiqama grubbered the ball cross field into the waiting hands of Johnathon Thurston, despite a massive appeal (and rightfully so) regarding an obvious knock on from Karmichael Hunt.
When Fiji should have had the gods smiling down on them, they cursed ‘the Bati’ with a decision that would allow Australia to post more points heading into the break.
Slater scored his second try soon enough and the Kangaroos were home and hosed. And still with forty minutes of football left to play.
Australian captain Darren Lockyer was the first to learn of Jarryd Hayne’s new tackling methods, with a thunderous shoulder charge that forced the ball loose and rattled the 43 test veteran.
But Hayne wasn’t finished.
He wanted to take aim at another devout Christian by the name of Israel Folau – the 100 kilo winger.
It was the special moment in an otherwise predictable Test match that saw the Kangaroos pile on a half century score.
But when Hayne confronted Lockyer and Folau, it seemed if, for just one second, Test rugby league actually had some meaning.
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November 18th 2008 @ 6:01pm
oikee said | November 18th 2008 @ 6:01pm | Report comment
Good post Onside, i also think the England New zealand games were good. All this world cup has shown is that the NRL is the best comp and can now sell itself as such. What they should do now and hopefully they will , bring the papuans and fiji lads along with the tongans and samoan into the comp, looking at the under 20′s i think this is already happening, not many white boys about.
November 20th 2008 @ 2:04am
Tim said | November 20th 2008 @ 2:04am | Report comment
Alan: If New Zealand had Pritchard, Asotasi, and SBW it would still be a huge upset for them to beat Australia. Neither Asotasi nor Pritchard had a fantastic year, and as for SBW, one man can only do so much. The fact of the matter is that if you’d be hard pressed to find more than a couple of players in the Kiwi squad who you’d even consider taking over his Kangaroo counterpart.
Let’s start with the backs: The NZ halves – Benji Marshall and Thomas Leuluai – would struggle to start in some NRL and SL teams, let alone be preferred over Jonathon Thurston and Darren Lockyer. Ditto Lance Hohaia, who isn’t even the Warriors’ first choice fullback (he came to the position as a replacement for an Aussie, Wade McKinnon). Steve Matai did well against Israel Folau in the NRL Grand Final, but I doubt he’s under any illusions about being an equal player, and nobody in their right mind would pick Jerome Ropati over Greg Inglis. This only really leaves the wingers as an area in which NZ might claim superiority, or at least parity. Brent Tate and Joel Monaghan are not superstars, and whilst Sam Perrett isn’t either, Manu Vatuvei is probably starting to fit that description.
Onto the forwards: Nathan Cayless and Adam Blair or Petero Civinoceva and Steve Price? Cayless at his peak wouldn’t have been considered the equal of Civinoceva or Price, and he definitely wasn’t at his peak in 2008. As for Blair, he can’t even make the Storm starting side ahead of White, of all people.
And so we go on through the squads. There’s no question that New Zealand _can_ beat Australia, and would stand a better chance of doing so with SBW, Asotasi and Pritchard, but to suggest that they’d be on par and expect victory on a regular basis is nonsense.