Graham Lowe: Distractions killed the Kiwis' flow

It was an absolute flogging but the seeds were sown well before the Kiwis hit a packed Suncorp Stadium last night.

The Kiwis made critical errors during the build up.

The drama over captain Ruben Wiki's hamstring worked against the Kiwis' preparations and it certainly wouldn't have distratcted the Kangaroos.

If the Kiwis knew early in the week Wiki wouldn't be fit they should have withdrawn him and then allowed themselves to refocus.

But coach Brian McClennan will learn from that.

He'll also have learned that you can't go into a test like that without a kicker.

The kicking was disgraceful.

If it means dragging someone out of Bartercard Cup or Fox Memorial, so be it.

I don't accept the jump's too big.

Benji Marshall showed he is capable with some good subtle chips behind the Aussie defence but probably came on too late to get any momentum going.

Unfortunately Thomas Leuluai is not up to standard especially when you're trying to get field position.

And without that ability to apply pressure the support play dried up and the forwards reverted to bash-and-barge. And with Kangaroos halfback Andrew Johns doing everything right the gulf between the two sides couldn't have been any clearer.