England 20
New Zealand 12
England will contest the final of the Four Nations with Australia at Elland Road next weekend, after victory over a Kiwi side who failed to rise to the occasion. Two tries before halftime from Peter Fox in his first game of the tournament were a crucial factor, but it took
a mighty effort from the pack to win what was otherwise a forward-orientated match - and nonetheless compelling for that.
The England coach, Tony Smith, came up with a surprise by starting with Kevin Sinfield at hooker and Sam Burgess at loose forward - a move that smacked of intending to get into the Kiwis' faces from the start. That approach was vindicated in the 10th minute when Sinfield burst away from dummy half, Burgess carried the ball past two tacklers and found Kyle Eastmond in support to dive over for a try which Sinfield converted.
It was not a lead that lasted long. Within five minutes, England had conceded a penalty for stealing the ball, Lance Hohaia had opened them up with one of his trademark looping passes and Kieran Foran was able to exploit Fox coming off his wing with the scoring pass to Bryson Goodwin. Goodwin was not able to convert, but levelled the scores with a penalty after Eorl Crabtree was harshly adjudged to be hanging on in the tackle.
Five minutes before halftime, Fox was alert when Sam Tomkins improvised a lovely cross-field kick on the last tackle of a set, to claim one converted try. He was there again in the last minute before the interval to make the lead a convincing one. Given an extra set by a Kiwi knock on, England had the presence of mind to strike swiftly down the right, Eastmond and the debutant, Chris Bridge, opening the way for a comfortable touch-down for the Hull KR winger. Sinfield's third goal crowned 40 minutes' admirable work from the home side.
Any thoughts that the job was done disappeared three minutes into the second half when Isaac Luke's sinuous run created the confusion that led to Ben Matulino scoring.
Michael Shenton could have calmed the nerves, but his pass, intended for Ryan Hall, went into touch. That left the lead looking precarious, despite there being so much to like about England's effort. Their forwards were putting in a particularly good shift and blunting the potentially destructive Kiwi pack.
Sinfield had a drop-goal attempt charged down, but a ricochet gave them the ball back and a penalty for holding on under the sticks left him in no doubt about claiming the two points. Now the job was just about done - and Australia await in a week's time. Australia confirmed their place with a 42-4 victory over France in Paris.
