While the whole Australian side put in a good performance at last Saturday’s dress rehearsal for the Four Nations, it was the synergy between Greg Inglis and Valentine Holmes that really struck fear into the hearts of the New Zealand players.
Despite the fact that G.I. had only trained once with the Kangaroos in the lead up to the match, and the fact that Holmes was debuting as a national representative, their combined play suggested exactly the kind of continuity between veterans and young guns needed to usher the Roos into their next generation.
From the outset, it was clear that the Kiwis were going to take advantage of their massive forward pack to defend their line to the last degree.
It was just as clear that some of the biggest men on the New Zealand side had something to prove after a disappointing end to 2016. Jesse Bromwich, Kevin Proctor and Tohu Harris were keen to make up for the grand final loss under Cameron Smith’s captaincy.
Dally M-holder Jason Taumalolo would have been raring to make up for not ushering North Queensland through to the grand final two years in a row. And Jared Warea-Hargreaves was only just managing to get back into his groove with the Roosters at the tail-end of the 2016 season.
Lots of that gutsy New Zealand resolve happened through defence, with some good interpretation from Shaun Kenny-Dowall and a great save from Jordan Kahu on the last tackle preventing the Australians from scoring off one of the first sets off the game.
Still, Darius Boyd’s first try up the left side of the field at the eighth minute put a bit of a dent in the Kiwi resolve, off the back of some good decoy running from Inglis.
It was the second try, however, that turned out to be the play of the afternoon, with G.I. passing the Steeden to Holmes who kicked it ahead for Inglis to run up from behind and scoop it up again after it bounced off the head of a very unfortunately placed Jordan Kahu.
A reminder of just how freakishly good G.I. can get under the demands of Test and rep football, it was a play that became more unbelievable with each replay.
For the rest of the first half, Holmes was also brilliant under the high ball, playing second fiddle to Boyd more than any of the other outside backs on the Australian side.
Inglis’ supremacy was only enhanced by the fact that Thurston, usually the Kangaroos’ biggest asset, had a fairly quiet night, especially in the first half.
By the time the Kiwis finally scored and Issac Luke converted at the 21st minute, the 8-6 score didn’t seem to reflect the Kangaroos’ dominance over the first half of the game, especially given that this was the first time that New Zealand had really managed to make it down the other end of the field.
It was a pretty weird experience, then, to see Luke more consistent than Thurston with the boot, and combined with the visceral intensity of Proctor’s four-pointer – there was more than a bit of grand final frustration coming through – it looked as if New Zealand might have the momentum to make up for their dramatic loss earlier in the year.
With Proctor, Solomone Kata and Adam Blair launching immediately into action into the second half, it truly felt as if New Zealand might have it, but in a brilliant opening couple of minutes Thurston also managed to come good, picking up an offload and flinging it over to Inglis who managed to get it up the left side and onto Holmes, who put down his first try at a representative level, in a fantastic echo of the collaboration between this veteran and young gun in the first minutes of the game.
With Thurston finally managing to convert, it felt as if the Kangaroos were back in the game, although the try ultimately belonged to Holmes and Inglis.
Once again, some powerful defence from the Kiwis towards the middle of the second half – really desperate stuff – halted the Kangaroos in their tracks, with the New Zealand pack managing to force Blake Ferguson to fumble the Steeden just as he reached the try line and crashing Josh Dugan over the side just as he was about to plant what would have been the deftest four-pointer of the afternoon.
When the decisive moment came, however, it was almost a non-event, despite marking Inglis’ second four-pointer of the game and his 30th at a Test level.
As Cameron Smith bounced a grubber towards the Kiwi line at the 68th minute, G.I. found himself shifting from decoy runner to trymaker, planting the Steeden to earth almost inadvertently and not seeming to realise the full significance of his play until it was announced to the incredulous crowd.
Yet that just seemed to make the Kangaroos victory seem even more effortless, especially with Thurston’s kicking game clearly back on track as the Australian side made it up to 20-6, a pretty intimidating margin for a Kiwi team that had seemed on the verge of winning it just before half time.
Ten minutes later, Boyd Cordner’s try was the last of the match and the icing on the cake for the home team.
Still, it was the Holmes-Inglis combination that really defined the game.
On the one hand, the Test cement Holmes’ contribution to the Sharks’ victory and cement him as one of the great future outside backs. If this had been a grand final repeat, Cronulla would have won it again.
But it was also brilliant to see G.I. firing on all cylinders, earning himself a well-deserved man of the match in the process.
As so many commentators have noted, Inglis is one of the most mercurial and unpredictable talents in the NRL, second only to Shaun Johnson in how dramatically his play can differ from game to game.
While high-pressure, representative football is one of his triggers, so is working with younger players who can stimulate him to achieve his best. Saturday’s game was a brilliant valentine from Holmes to Inglis and from Inglis to Holmes, an act of mutual appreciation and validation between a veteran and a young gun.
It was exactly the kind of gesture Meninga needed to solidify generational community as he continues to experiment with the Australian side heading into Four Nations.
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