KEY POINTS:
The Kiwis are fuming a dangerous grapple tackle on wing Sam Perrett went unpunished in Saturday night's World Cup match but say they won't take the issue further.
Wing Sam Perrett was left lying motionless after the second tackle of the match at Skilled Park, thanks to giant Papua New Guinea prop Makali Aizue.
Replays clearly showed Aizue, the Kumuls' cult hero who plays for English club Hull KR, wrapping his arm around Perrett's neck and twisting it.
But English referee Steve Ganson, who annoyed both sides with his rulings, and his touch judges failed to see anything wrong.
Perrett eventually trotted away and bagged two tries in the Kiwis' 48-6 win, but was nursing a sore neck afterwards.
"I have got my thoughts but I'd rather keep them to myself," coach Stephen Kearney said. "We're not going to bother with that [lodging a complaint]. If there was something we felt very strongly about, we could, but we won't be doing that.
"I would have been a bit rough if I was in Sam's shoes."
Kearney required some serious self-control when asked about Ganson's officious performance which he described as "different".
There were several bizarre penalty rulings while Perrett and Manu Vatuvei were denied tries after marginal forward pass calls.
Said Kiwis captain Nathan Cayless: "There were some strange decisions but we expected that and we had to deal with it."
PNG coach Adrian Lam was incensed by Ganson not keeping the Kiwis' defenders back 10m and even sent a "please explain" message to Ganson via a trainer during the match. The Kiwis will probably have a leading Australian referee for their remaining tournament matches, starting with their final pool match against England in Newcastle on Saturday then a likely semifinal against the same opponents.
The Kiwis will also support moves by World Cup organisers to appoint an Australian official if they make the November 22 final, as the top NRL whistlers are seen as far superior to the English refs.
Kiwis five-eighth Benji Marshall has allayed fears about his hamstring injury, insisting he'll be fit for Saturday's pool match against England in Newcastle.
Marshall sat out the second half of the Kiwis' 48-6 win over Papua New Guinea on Saturday after feeling tightness in the hamstring late in the first spell.
After playing a hand in three of the Kiwis' first four tries, Marshall was warming to his task and wanted to play on, but coaches Stephen Kearney and Wayne Bennett both overruled him to try to protect their most prized asset.
"I'll be sweet [for next weekend]. I pulled up well and I iced it up, I'm feeling pretty good," Marshall said.
Marshall had little impact during the Kiwis' 6-30 defeat to the Kangaroos a week earlier and vowed to stamp his mark on last night's match, just up the road from where he was a schoolboy star at Keebra Park High School.
He jinked around PNG winger George Keppa to set up Jerome Ropati's opening try, helped put Simon Mannering over in combination with halves partner Thomas Leuluai then fired a 15m pass out wide for the first of wing Sam Perrett's two tries.
"It was all right, I did a couple of good things and tried to get more involved," Marshall said.
"Last week I took a bit long to get into the game so I wanted to get a few touches early this week and try to be a bit more dominant.
"I did that in patches but there's still a lot to work on."
He said he and Leuluai were taking time to gel as a combination but were "getting better every week".
- NZPA
