Australia have all but secured their spot in the Four Nations final after beating a fast-finishing New Zealand 14-8 at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena.
The Kangaroos were simply irresistible at times in the opening 30 minutes and their 10-0 lead at halftime, thanks to tries from Blake Ferguson and Johnathan Thurston was not a fair reflection of their dominance.
» Five talking points from the match
» Re-live the match with our live blog
However, the Kiwis were much improved after the break, holding the Kangaroos to a pair of Johnathan Thurston penalties in the second stanza and scoring two tries through Solomone Kata and Jordan Rapana but were unable to pull off a grandstand finish.
Ferguson opened the scoring after five minutes, putting the finishing touches to a sweeping move by hauling in a superb pass from Michael Morgan.
Morgan and Ferguson were also involved in the Kangaroos’ second four-pointer with Johnathan Thurston barging through two Kiwi tackles to cross four minutes later and then convert his own try.
Greg Inglis, who earlier produced a bone-jarring tackle on Rapana then tormented the winger further by preventing a certain try with an ankle tap after he’d intercepted a Darius Boyd pass
Justin O’Neill went close to extending Australia’s advantage, only to be denied by the desperate New Zealand defence with Adam Blair holding up his former Melbourne teammate.
Kata dived over nine minutes after the restart but Johnson failed to convert with Thurston punishing some ill-discipline from the Kiwis by drilling home two penalties.
Some magic from Johnson set Rapana up for a late four-pointer, with the halfback gathering his own kick and spreading the ball wide for the Canberra winger to score.
Johnson thought he had scored in the final seconds, but the video referee rightly adjudged that he had not grounded the ball.
There could also be some injury concerns for the Kangaroos with Thurston looking to have picked up a knee injury after running into Jordan Kahu five minutes from time.
Jacko
Guest
Teah an English ref for England v NZ and Aus ref for Aus v NZ so Im looking forward to the scottish ref this weekend and ..............a Kiwi ref for the final
Maestro
Guest
The usual Big C second half comeback - amazing. There was an Aussie ref and Aussie video ref - are they serious for an international contest???
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
It sounds like they are in a selfinvolved Vacuum. Let us listen to the pommy commentators.. it would be better
SpongeBob
Guest
Miss's says finishing fast is just no good. NZ might want to try another strategy.
Kiwijack
Guest
Johnson without Foran is trying to do all the work and it's not his go. He desperately needs another playmaker, TL has proven before and at club level not to be the foil for Johnson hence why he was moved in tests to play hooker when Luke went off. Kidwell didn't bring Tui so needs to use TMM. Backline and halves for next game should be 1-DWZ, 2-Fuzz, 3-Kahu, 4-Kata, 5-Repana, 6-Martin, 7 Johnson also include Tapine and Fisher-Harris. These guys should account for Scotland and rack up a decent score.
Pilferer
Roar Rookie
Lockyers point about Johnson reminding him of Thurston at the Cowboys before Morgan arrived shows how important it is to have two playmakers on the park Or a dummy half that can kick.
Pilferer
Roar Rookie
Who was the main commentator all he did was bag the kiwis . Even laughing about not being able to cross the line was pretty poor
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Channel Nine are useless and lack any semblance of style or class.
TS
Guest
Totally agree re Thomas L we need more zip at dummy half when Luke has a break or leave both like Canberra do. SKD is a liability especially given his experience. Fusitua should be in there somewhere. Really missing Foran and RTS.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
In a multi billion dollar industry, is it too much to ask for on ground commentators? Calling the game on the cheap from a Sydney studio was just that - "cheap".
Pilferer
Roar Rookie
We desperately need a 6 TL should be coming on for luke . Hope Temarin has a blinder and forces Kidwell to pick him. Beale to center Skd is not playing well enough and nightingale back to the wing . SJ is cannon fodder for the opposition as he has no support in the kicking department and he is making 30 tackles a game ! Thurston made 16 tackles and 42 meters Johnson made 31 tackles and 63 meters Imagine how good he would be in the green jersey. RTS and Foran are massively missed.