Kangaroos too good for Kiwis in dead rubber

By Ian McCullough / Roar Guru

Australia laid down a marker for next week’s Four Nations final in Brisbane with a comfortable 34-20 win over New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.

The two sides will do battle again at Suncorp Stadium next Saturday with the Kangaroos chalking up a psychological blow as a side containing four debutants, and seven changes to the one that beat England in Melbourne last week, silenced the noisy home crowd of just over 44,000.

The performance also made a mockery of claims from the New Zealand media that Australia were disrespecting the game by fielding a weakened team as a full-strength Kiwi outfit were put to the sword.

Halfback Cooper Cronk opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a superb individual effort, brushing aside three tackles to score in the left corner to give Tim Sheens’ side the perfect start.

A Benji Marshall penalty narrowed the lead, but Brett Morris and Brent Tate extended the advantage to leave the hosts shellshocked.

A Frank Pritchard try 11 minutes before the break led to the best spell of play for Stephen Kearney’s side, who pinned the Kangaroos deep in their own half as the opening stanza came to a close.

Marshall added a penalty with the last play of the half when David Shillington was penalised for unloading a flurry of punches on Kiwi hooker Issac Luke to leave the score 18-10 at the break.

The second period started in a similar manner to the first with Darius Boyd, preferred at fullback to Billy Slater, racing over after good work from the impressive Tate, with the crowd still taking their seats.

Chris Lawrence then marked his debut with a try made in Leichhardt, latching onto a quick grubber kick from Wests Tigers teammate Robbie Farah to barge his way over the line.

Morris then added his second of the game in the 58th minute, with Tate once more instrumental in the move.

The frustration of seeing their side being outplayed was too much for a large section of the crowd who started to throw missiles towards the playing area.

Their disappointment was abated somewhat when Jason Nightingale and Shaun Kenny-Dowall went over for late consolation tries, but the final scoreline somewhat flattered the home side.

Stand-in Kangaroos skipper Cameron Smith was in fine form with the boot, kicking three goals, with Todd Carney, who enjoyed a solid debut, converting three.

The Crowd Says:

2010-11-08T21:12:50+00:00

betty b

Guest


Kiwi crowds in any sport against Australia always worry me. I detested their booing of Australia taking kicks at a Union match in Melbourne earlier this year. The Auckland incident doesn't surprise me at all, and nor does the lack of an apology. Mainly, I'm hearing, 'oh, that's not typical'. This reaction, and recalling their reaction to opposing teams not standing to watch their haka in union games tells me a lot about NZ.

2010-11-08T02:29:38+00:00

mickh

Guest


intolerance to what?

2010-11-08T00:48:07+00:00

Ian

Guest


I was in Wigan in England when the kiwis returned from the 1989 loss at Eden Park in the world cup final. I can remember having a beer with Adrian Shelford (Kiwi Prop) shortly after when he commented that "it was a joke and that they'd spent more time practicing the Haka than league". I thought of this as I watched the game on Saturday night. Impressive Haka but from that moment on, I remembered Adrian's comments and felt we were doomed. The vast amount of energy, time and effort that was put into the Haka does nothing to translate into a winning side. The NZ league teams of old used to perform the haka as a celebration and not necessarily before a game unless they were travelling to say the UK, where the crowds enjoyed the spectacle and it did not detract from the game as sadly Saturday night's effort did. Incidentally on the Kiwis return (Wigan had four Kiwi players then - Bell, the Iro Brothers and Shelford) Wigan played Widnes in a Wednesday night game four days after the loss to Australia. I still remember watching a fired up Shelford, winning the man of the match award that night. He took the ball forward at every opportunity. This despite spending over 24 hours in a plane and a 12 hr time differential from the weekend. I trust the current New Zealand team are made of similar stuff and rise similarly to the occasion this weekend.

2010-11-08T00:39:22+00:00

Bayboy

Guest


Exactly and it is really unfortunate that his intolerance is allowed to be published in this forum

2010-11-08T00:23:21+00:00

Ex-pat leaguie

Guest


Good effort from my english lads to finish off. well done. good crowd turned up, its just a pity they were so porrly behaved. hardly a place to take the wife and kids.

2010-11-07T23:40:29+00:00

Max

Guest


Actually that is exactly what Republican tried to say.

2010-11-07T23:10:17+00:00

mickh

Guest


You're getting very defensive. It seems we have looked into our own backyard first and proactively try to ensure that crowds don't behave like they did in Auckland. As you stated, we have banned glass and bottles at the grounds in Australia. Perhaps instead of getting defensive about your crowd behaviour you need to ensure it doesn't happen again. Like we have done. No one has indicated bad crowd behaviour an endemic to New Zealand crowds. You're just reacting like it is.

2010-11-07T22:32:34+00:00

Redback

Guest


Was it the opening of eden park

2010-11-07T21:52:26+00:00

Matt

Guest


The crowd number was pretty accurate (44,000). The great weather and a lack of competition for attention was a major factor, as was the great price for tickets. Brand spanking new South stand, halfway line, 10m from the field = $45 for both games. Compare that to $50 for the cheap seats to the All Blacks and you can see why it was such a good crowd. But you can also see why it was a very different crowd to most NZ sporting events. There is no doubt the league crowds in NZ are a lot more vocal, a lot more aggressive and generally a bad example of NZ fans to use for promoting the country. Once the mexican wave started up on Saturday it certainly felt a bit like a warzone. Pretty much anything people could get their hands on were being thrown; beer bottles, both empty and full (which was crazy at $7.50 each), punnets of chips, sunglasses, shoes?!, all kinds of rubbish etc. Plenty of action in stands (fights, police evictions etc). None of it was helped by the poor show from the Kiwis and it was a bit of a shame that it was such a bad evening in the end, because the potential for a great success was there. I do think that many of the punters were there primarily for a look at the new stadium, which will be awesome for the WC next year. That was certainly the case with the people I chatted to on the trains and buses heading to the stadium. But it does show that people are willing to travel to watch League and that big events can attract big crowds if the money and effort is put in to advertising it.

2010-11-07T19:54:56+00:00

Bayboy

Guest


Here's an excerpt from a book written by Simon Briggs titles Stiff Upper Lips and Baggy Green Caps, A Sledger's History of the Ashes Warner was delighted by England’s 3-2 win, especially as they were coming off four successive series defeats. But there was one thing that infuriated him, and that was the unruly behaviour of the local crowds. Players and officials were regularly heckled and abused. When the home favourite Clem Hill was given run out at Sydney, a few toughs jeered the umpire responsible, yelling “Have you got your coffin ready, Crockett?”, “Which gate are you leaving by, Crockett?” and “How much did you pay Crockett, Warner?” For the English players, many of whom had never been barracked before, this was all deeply unsettling. Back home, cricket-watching was a pastime for middle-class gentlemen. So when touring teams arrived at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and looked out at the massed ranks of farmers and furriers, they must have felt like Christians entering the Colosseum. The fourth Test produced more intimidating behaviour from the crowd, who reacted to a rain stoppage by hurling bottles onto the outfield. In the report for his book, Warner wrote “’I can imagine an official rushing to the telephone and ringing up the War Minister. Across the wire comes: “Send troops.” “What for?” “International match now on. Crowd on hill armed to the teeth with umbrellas, bottles, melon skins and rude language, advancing determinedly on wicket. Three policemen and groundsman’s dog doing good work. Umpires Crockett and Argall retreating to the mountains.”

2010-11-07T19:32:21+00:00

Bayboy

Guest


I think it's fair to say that Republican likes to exaggerate the truth with anything involved with NZ and everyone here at the roar knows this. I have seen some truly horrendous behaviour at sporting venues in Australia and have spoken about them at length here on the roar before, but of course Republican will deny this until the cows come home. There's a reason why Australian sporting venues no longer allow bottles into the grandstand seating area and plastic cups only. Because incidents like what happened at Eden Park were far to common and something needed to be done about it. Ugly incidents happen all over the world and it is not just a NZ problem, in fact it isn't really a problem here at all but people like Republican who have nothing better to do than incite a hatred and loathing towards NZ, would like you to believe it is. Yes it happened and no one denies what happened at Eden Park it was appalling, however it is far from the norm. Before making gross generalizations it pays to look into your own backyard first.

2010-11-07T19:10:40+00:00

mickh

Guest


I think his point is that it isn't an isolated incident. If he's experienced it personally then how can you refute his claims.

2010-11-07T09:18:33+00:00

Hoy

Roar Guru


I disagree actually. I was pretty keen to watch to see how good he would go, but I thought he was bloody quite all game. All he kept doing was running sideways and dishing back under inside himself, or stand there and throw a long pass. I can't recall him setting anything up to create a try scoring run, or even a line break offload. I could be wrong.

2010-11-07T09:14:25+00:00

Working Class Rugger

Guest


Wiremu Do yourself a favour and just ignore him. Not worth the time or frustration.

2010-11-07T08:44:12+00:00

Republican

Guest


NZ will probably win the one that counts in Brissy. They will have almost as much support as in Auckland, since all Kiwi sides derive a home ground parity in Oz due to the huge ex pat factor. Poor crowd behavior is not peculiar to League at all in NZ. I have attended Cricket and Union there, albeit some years back now, and the Kiwi venom towards Australia was an eye opener and enough to make you think again about ever re visiting that spooky little country - to be sure.

2010-11-07T08:40:40+00:00

mickh

Guest


yeah it was an interesting way to respond to the backlash Australian League and Australia in general received from the rest of the world this week. I think people in general just need to grow up and stop getting so full. Can you imagine if that happened at an Aussie ground after the week we've had. For the sake of the game and our nations reputation I just hope the crowd behaves themselves next week in Brisbane.

2010-11-07T08:14:34+00:00

Dan

Guest


Carney has had a blinder this year and I think that even though there are players out there on the same level, it was the fact that he came back from such a dismal low to join a team that came last last year and helped them make it all the way to the GF. Sure, they didn't win, but it was one heck of feat and the story in of itself would have added to his chances of getting the award. But I honestly think the Roos looked better with Carney steering them around the park, than they did with Locky. He's a stalwart and all that, but Carney is just less predictable and adds more of an X factor to the side.

2010-11-07T06:26:56+00:00

Hoy

Roar Guru


I couldn't understand the "disrespect" part of it all. Australia replaced a great 5/8 with supposedly the best player in the world at the moment, Carney, and also Slater, with the best fullback in the world right now. Is that right? Weren't both Carney and Boyd awarded those titles not a week ago? Sure it was not the original starting team, but isn't it disrepectful to the supposed world's best player to say he is not worthy of a start, and his selection is disrespecting the opposition? I have supposed there, because I can't see how Carney got 1) the Dally M this year, and 2) the Golden boot winner, but both titles are next to his name now.

2010-11-07T06:20:25+00:00

Working Class Rugger

Guest


I know some have said the game was a let down but to be honest it was IMO the best game of the 4Ns thus far. The Kangaroos were far better and if they had played like that against PNG and England they would have torn both teams apart.

2010-11-07T06:03:29+00:00

Dan

Guest


Disappointing performance by NZ... it reminded me a lot of the Aus England game last week when the Poms came out with a lot of aggression, but then couldn't keep it up and ended up folding. Fact is though that the NZ media should never have talked about Aus treating the game with disrespect for not fielding their best team... There's a lot of talent for the Kangaroos to choose from and I personally think that this "B" team was better than our supposed A Team.

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