Rugby League: Aussies want Anzac test bonanza

By Peter Jessup


The Kiwis' two two-point results against Australia in the rugby league Tri-Series might bring a cash bonanza for the game out of next year's Anzac test.

The annual encounter in April is due to be played in New Zealand next year after the 20-16 win to the Kangaroos at Sydney's Stadium Australia this year, where a crowd of 34,000 attended.

But the renewed interest in the international game stirred by the Kiwis' opening Tri-Series win and the two close losses prompted the Australian Rugby League to offer to sponsor the game and to guarantee a gate exceeding 50,000.

That would mean a take of around $A1 million ($1.25 million), of which the New Zealand Rugby League would get half.

Kiwi coach Frank Endacott, however, is less than enthused at the prospect of a shift.

"It's supposed to be a home game and that's about giving us a better opportunity to win the test," said Endacott.

"We want to play here."

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Kiwi forwards Joe Vagana and Craig Smith are set to star in movie theatres and on television screens worldwide after the Kiwis' apparel sponsor, Puma, brought in a United States film crew to capture the smashing action at Ericsson Stadium on Friday night.

Peter Glasse, of the advertising agency Gyro Worldwide, was on the sideline at the stadium for game one, having flown in just an hour before, and could not believe the intensity of the bodily contact.

"It's American football without the padding and the breaks," said Glasse.

"The Yanks would love this if they knew the rules."

Glasse and his cameramen came from filming the Australian women's basketball team and left a day later to get Japan's soccer side, with the clips to be glued together with film of boxer Oscar de la Hoya, Kenyan runner Wilson Kipketer, women's tennis star Serena Williams and others in a television and movie advertisement to be shown worldwide.

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Great Britain team manager Phil Lowe was hurting in more ways than one after the Lions' dismal performance in the Tri-Series.

After big losses to the Kangaroos and the Kiwis, on Tuesday he was rushed to hospital with appendicitis.

The offending part was removed and he made it to Ericsson Stadium on Friday night to see the Lions squeak home against a scratch Maori side.

The game, which acted as a curtainraiser to the KiwisKangaroos clash, would not have done anything to aid his recovery.

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The Kiwi players, coaches, trainers and medical staff all got in on the fundraising act in the Tonga game, with every member of the squad coughing up $100 for a combined $2500 donation to the children's hospital cause.