KEY POINTS:
Australia 33 Great Britain 10
BRISBANE - The crowd fell short of the record rugby league test attendance and the game came up short of being a classic despite Brent Tate's unbelievable 90 metre try after the full time siren to cap the 33-10 win.
But the
win set the scene for the Tri Nations final Australia so desperately wanted and have waited 12 months for - another crack at New Zealand at Sydney's Aussie Stadium next Saturday night.
For several of the Kangaroos players, the pain of losing last year's final 24-0 to the Kiwis still hurts.
Tonight's crowd of 44,358 failed to break the old Lang Park attendance record of 45,057 when Australia did battle with Great Britain in 1966.
Rugby League officials had hoped it would be Brisbane's biggest test turnout, beating the 46,355 crowd at the Gabba in 1954 again for a test against the Lions.
The Lions though had plenty of voice in the big crowd with English supporters heavily decked out in a sea of red and white and others wearing Super League team jumpers to show their support.
Australia won the pre-game national anthem sing off to avoid being embarrassed by English fans.
Then they came out swinging with quick tries to centres Justin Hodges and Mark Gasnier which quickly quietened down the British fans.
The football may not have been as attractive as the four-member "Girl Band" which entertained the crowd before the kick off.
But it didn't lack any toughness or commitment with Kangaroo forward Brent Kite setting the standard driving one of the tourists into the Suncorp turf early before hooker Cameron pipped in with a brave shoulder charge on Lions prop Stuart Fielden.
It's not often a Kiwi cheers for Australia in sport.
But New Zealand coach Brian McLennan, who flew up from Sydney for the test hoping to see a Kangaroo victory to get his defending champions through to next week's Tri Nations final, was quietly cheering Ricky Stuart's team's every try.
McLennan and some of his Kiwi entourage tucked themselves into the Suncorp Stadium crowd, swelled considerably by thousands of British fans and Barmy Army fanatics in Brisbane for next week's first Ashes test at the Gabba.
What McLennan saw again was how dangerous Hodges, Gasnier, Karmichael Hunt and Greg Inglis can be and how heavily Australia's attack relies upon five-eighth Darren Lockyer.
Lockyer took just 90 seconds of the second half to put Great Britain on the plane home when he scored a simple wrap-around try combining with prop Mark O'Meley to push Australia out to a 22-4 lead and the game was all over.
Australia: 33
Great Britain: 10
HT: 18-4
- AAP