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A relentless Australia has destroyed New Zealand 34-8 to claim the 2016 Four Nations and retake rugby league’s world number one ranking.
The Kangaroos burst out of the blocks, scoring through winger Blake Ferguson in the third minute and did not let up, adding three more tries before halftime to build a 24-0 scoreline that if you were being honest, felt like it was 50.
New Zealand were a shambles from kickoff to siren. Their first half included 18 missed tackles, nine errors and a completion rate of 47 per cent (9/19 sets completed).
Unlike the most recent meeting between the two sides, the Kangaroos made the Kiwis pay for their carelessness over and over – and if Australia had decided to play on rather than take two first half penalty goals, things could have devolved from embarrassing to shameful.
Under direction from player of the tournament Cooper Cronk and using the guile of captain Cameron Smith, the Kangaroos made metres at will and brought a level of pressure in defence that New Zealand simply couldn’t handle.
Australia had performers all over the park. Josh Dugan grabbed a first half double, Boyd Cordner played strongly as did David Klemmer while Ferguson continued his great form on the wing.
Man of the match for the Final was given to Darius Boyd, who created two tries, three line breaks and got over for a try of his own. Boyd was involved in two key plays getting the ball out of his own in goal area to lay an attacking platform, demonstrating an urgency that any player in the Kiwi side would struggle to admit they matched.
New Zealand looked tired, flat-footed and bereft of ideas and creativity in attack – their battle to score points this tournament was laid bare and the puzzling selection of Tohu Harris as starting five-eighth ahead of young tyro Te Maire Martin showed that perhaps there’s also a lack of creativity in the coaches box.
Harris is a great forward and in an unfamiliar role was caught out of position on many occasions.
Jordan Kahu scored a double and tried hard, as did Jason Taumalolo and Jordan Rapana, but errors and lack of fluency or purpose damned the New Zealanders from the beginning.
Kiwi coach David Kidwell will surely come under the microscope ahead of the 2017 World Cup as will the positions of some veterans like Shaun Kenny-Dowall, who had a Four Nations to forget.
As for Australia, they will feel they are back where they belong, at number one.
Australia 34 (Josh Dugan 2, Blake Ferguson, Trent Merrin, Darius Boyd, Boyd Cordner tries; Johnathan Thurston 5 goals) defeated New Zealand 8 (Jordan Kahu 2 tries) at Anfield, Liverpool. Crowd: 40,042.