It was Australia’s first loss to a side not named New Zealand or Great Britain since 1978 when the Kangaroos went down in stunning fashion to Tonga at Eden Park on Saturday.
After the Kangaroos blew New Zealand off the park in Wollongong a week ago, a routine win over Mate Ma’a Tonga was certainly the expectation amongst local media coming in.
Instead, they found themselves on the wrong end of a 16-12 scoreline in one of the biggest international rugby league upsets ever.
How big of a boost is this game to the international rugby league scene? How poor a reflection – if at all – was the result on Mal Meninga and the side that took the field?
We got Roar rugby league expert AJ Mithen on the Game of Codes podcast to look at the fallout from the big upset in Auckland and what it means going forward.
Listen to the discussion in the player above.
Some Australian commentators – including Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler – took aim at Mal Meninga’s side for allegedly not taking Tonga seriously – are they on the money?
Visit our Game of Codes hub to catch the full episode and be sure to subscribe and review on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever else you’re listening.
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