League: Kiwis' lack of discipline costs them dearly

Lions 38 Kiwis 12

The Kiwis must nervously await the outcome of the last Tri-Nations game and hope for an Australian win so they make the final after playing themselves out of yesterday's game against Great Britain.

Lack of composure and lack of discipline cost them dearly as they conceded a 26-0 lead.

Then centre Shontayne Hape was sin-binned just before the break and soon after it the Lions took advantage of the open space to put Chev Walker in.

All over rover.

From then on it was catch-up and damage control for New Zealand. They equalled the Lions' 12 second-half points. But after expending themselves from so much tackling, thanks to an 8-2 penalty count against them by the 30th minute, the Kiwis' attack was blunted.

So they slip from leading the competition as far as points differential goes to trailing it and if Great Britain beat the Kangaroos in Hull next weekend it's that differential that will determine who makes the final in Leeds.

The problem for Great Britain will be in fielding a competitive team. Wing Brian Carney, who redeemed himself after his horror game in test one against the Kiwis with a try double by halftime yesterday, did his hamstring again. Halfback Paul Deacon suffered a broken nose from a hit by Nigel Vagana which referee Tim Mander put on report. Prop Stuart Fielden was off the field for some time with a back problem. Fullback Paul Wellens left early and sat on the bench with a knee iced.

Kiwis coach Brian McClennan accepted that there was some complacency within the squad given the huge differential they held in the tournament, the Lions needing 36 points to haul them back.

"Obviously there was some of that or we wouldn't have been beaten like that - it's a hard thing to monitor."

McClennan said he'd have been content had they managed to score once more themselves and hold out just one of Great Britain's six tries, losing but keeping the PD advantage. "It would have been a slap in the face, a rude awakening that you take nothing for granted."

He said the loss was deeply felt. "We've let down ourselves, we've let our country down."

But he was not despondent, given a number of controversial or 50/50 calls that all seemed to add to Great Britain's roll-on.

"We were poor, yes, and when you're poor the rub of the green doesn't go your way, we accept that," McClennan said.

It was a thrilling game, even to be losing so convincingly, play frequently running end-to-end. There were some great individual plays, mostly from the Brits: Wellens holding prop Roy Asotasi's arm to prevent a touchdown under the posts; Keith Senior's break and pass to put Walker in and the break to score himself; Deacon's swivel to score.

Big prop Adrian Morley gave his team-mates a wink as the Kiwis lined up to start the haka, as if to say the challenge in front of them meant nothing.

When Stacey Jones accepted the kick-off, the Lions were on him so quickly he couldn't find a prop to get the ball away to for the standard game start and that was how it went throughout.

The Lions' rushing defence kept Jones and Motu Tony quiet. Conversely, their little men were given far too much room around the play-the-ball, the Kiwis' marker defence being awful.

So Keiron Cunningham killed them, lining up the first try to Stuart Fielden and producing damaging dummy-half runs throughout.

The Kiwis conceded two penalties before Fielden scored at six minutes. David Kidwell gave away another for a slap at Deacon and Deacon cut the defence on an angle to score after 15 minutes. When the Kiwis were awarded a rare early penalty they failed to find touch and the Lions used the territory and possession to put Carney over in the 26th minute. Carney scored again in the 34th with a touchline dance. Down 24-0, composure was out the window.

Referee Mander had already warned the Kiwis about flops, quite rightly, as they were trying to slow the play-the-ball and the game and Hape was binned in the 39th minute. When the Kiwis did get possession they looked smart. But that was rare.

Can they resurrect themselves if, as expected, the Kangaroos beat the Lions? "Yeah," said McClennan. "One bad game doesn't make you a bad team."