KEY POINTS:
Australia 16 New Zealand 12
SYDNEY - The Kiwis eyed their own Mt Everest last night but found the air at altitude a bit too hard to handle.
Likeable Kiwis coach Brian McClennan got all profound earlier this week and compared winning the Tri Nations to Sir Edmund Hillary's ascent of Mt Everest - although we all knew what he meant it didn't quite come out the right way.
The assault on the Tri Nations ran into a few storms along the way and then fell into a crevasse in the shape of Grannygate. But they kept plugging away and fell just short - at the Hillary Step, if you like - after a dramatic defeat to the Kangaroos last night.
It brought to a close an extraordinary year in New Zealand rugby league that began with the Warriors salary cap debacle, lurched to a huge defeat in the Anzac test and then reached a crescendo with the Grannygate fiasco.
After an epic 80 minutes, Darren Lockyer proved Australia's hero in extra time, scoring the try which clinched the final. The tightness of the contest was appropriate after what has been a fascinating Tri Nations campaign.
It opened with loudmouth Willie Mason's foul-mouthed tirade at the haka in Auckland six weeks ago.
But Mason didn't come close to offending the haka this time, sitting down quietly on the sidelines as his team-mates lined up only 5m from the passionate challenge. Mason, as had been expected, was replaced in the starting line-up by Brent Kite.
As he cooled his heels and presumably his temper, he saw his side land the first decisive blow when the Kiwis were horribly exposed down their left wing.
Lockyer and Mark Gasnier needed no second invitation and sent in Brent Tate for the easiest of tries.
It was virtually the first time Australia probed down the edges and they found
plenty of space spreading the ball wide as they attempted to avoid the big Kiwi pack.
McClennan's side simply missed too many tackles in the opening exchanges and found themselves pinned in their own period for long periods. The loss of centre Steve Matai to a serious shoulder injury certainly didn't help.
It needed something special to get the Kiwis back in the game and it came in the shape, yet again, of Stacey Jones.
The Little General attacked the line before he put up a little chip kick gathered by Brent Webb who then brilliantly spread the ball to Frank Pritchard to score in the corner.
If it was Jones' last appearance in a Kiwis jumper, and this time he might really mean it, it was a final statement of just how good he has been since he made his debut in 1995. It was just a shame he didn't pack his goalkicking boots with him.
The Kiwis visibly lifted, although they were still vulnerable down Manu Vatuvei's left wing (and the butter-fingered version of the big winger appeared again last night) and ran in for their halftime oranges trailing just 10-6.
The second half opened in explosive fashion as both sides found room to move down the wings and referee Ashley Klein continued to come down hard on players slowing the play-the-balls.
But it was the Kiwis who struck first when Iosia Soliola cut inside Justin Hodges to level the scores at 10-10.
Johnathan Thurston landed a soft penalty to put the Kangaroos ahead again and the Kangaroos came close to breaking the game open but the Kiwis just hung on. They also didn't help their cause with a series of unforgivable handling errors.
Both sides jabbed away, like heavyweight prizefighters looking for the knockout blow and it came in the shape of Lockyer's heartbreaking extra time try.
McClennan might need to ask Hillary what the view is like from the top of the world because they're not there yet.
Australia 16 (B. Tate, D. Lockyer tries, J. Thurston 4 gls)
New Zealand 12 (F. Pritchard, I. Soliola tries, S. Jones 2 gls).
HT: 10-6.
