The Roar
The Roar

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Thurston and Cooper's wizardry superb, now it's up to Scott

30th November, 2013
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Quade Cooper has made himself available for the Australian Sevens side. (AFP PHOTO / Michael Bradley)
Expert
30th November, 2013
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Johnathan Thurston was man of the match in an emphatic 34-2 annihilation of New Zealand to regain the Rugby League World Cup at Old Trafford.

And Quade Cooper wove his magic in the Wallabies’ gripping 30-26 win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

Two fabulous games of football. The Kangaroos were almost perfect. The Wallabies a mixture of ill-discipline to be penalised 18-9, but they offset that by sheer brilliance in spasms – especially playmaker Cooper, whose only blemish was to be yellow-carded at the death for an early tackle.

Milestones surfaced to make the wins even more valuable.

Thurston went past Mick Cronin’s international point-scoring recording record of 309, and Billy Slater’s double took him to 22 tries from 24 starts.

And the Kangaroos kept their tryline untouched for the last 404 minutes of the tournament.

Cooper played his 50th Test, the Wallabies increased their unbeaten record against Wales to nine, and posted four wins in a row for the first time since Robbie Deans took over the June 2008.

The capacity crowd of 74,468 at Manchester United’s home ground were treated to a rare exhibition of champagne rugby league.

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Thurston was the conductor, but his band played just as many tunes.

In fact, it would be hard to mention one Kangaroo who didn’t play out of his skin.

Just one stat underlined how much the ball in hand ruled.

Jarryd Hayne ran 160 metres. Paul Gallen 152, Matt Scott 142, Billy Slater 122, Corey Parker 117, Thurston just 98 – but he was busy setting up support – Andrew Fifita 95, and Greg Bird 96.

Champagne alright. The Kiwis were only in the final for 15 minutes at 2-2, and then all they really did was chase or tackle as the Kangaroos exorcised their World Cup final loss to the Kiwis five years ago.

The Wallabies of the last year would have lost last night by probably 20 points.

But Ewen McKenzie has corrected their lack of pride and passion, and that 30-26 win was just bursting with guts and determination.

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Had they been more disciplined in retiring, or not playing the ball on their feet, or being offside, they would have been further in control.

And dropping regulation ball didn’t help either. But having mentioned the ugly parts of their win, the good parts were simply magnificent with Cooper and Israel Folau right off the top shelf, as was Michael Hooper up front.

The Wallabies topped the runs with 119 to 89, the run metres with 769-447, but Wales missed more tackles 35-21, and that was purely due to incessant Wallaby pressure.

It can safely be said the Wallabies are back, and have truly earned their festive season break.

Now it’s up to Adam Scott to turn his four-shot lead over Rory McIlroy into an Australian Open victory at Royal Sydney to clinch the grand slam of Australian golf and join Robert Allenby, who achieved the feat in 2005.

Both Scott and McIlroy were a bit off their game yesterday, but expect fireworks today if the weather remains fine.

An Australian trifecta would give this weekend the ultimate, and leave the door open for the baggy greens to make it a quadrella starting Thursday in Adelaide when the second Ashes Test gets underway.

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