League: Kiwis tour ends in familiar fashion

3.15pm

UPDATE - HULL, England - New Zealand ended their disappointing rugby league tour of England in familiar fashion when letting slip a halftime lead to go down 24-26 to Great Britain at Hull.

The result meant the Kiwis lost all three of their Tri-Nations matches in England -- one against Australia and two against the Lions.

Each time, they had gone into the interval in front only to pay for slipping up immediately after the restart.

Ahead 12-4 at KC Stadium, they conceded four tries in the third quarter -- two to man-of-the-match Brian Carney -- as Great Britain surged into a lead they never relinquished.

New Zealand ended the round-robin stage bottom of the table with one point from their draw against Australia in the opening fixture in Auckland last month.

The Lions finished top with six points, one ahead of the Kangaroos. The two sides meet in the final in Leeds next Sunday (NZ time).

Coach Daniel Anderson said the latest defeat mirrored the Kiwis' time in England.

"We go home with a fair amount of pain, because the score is a reflection of our tour -- we just come up short," he said.

"We competed with tremendous commitment, pride and passion, but for 10 minutes of every game we've dropped our guard and been punished."

The test, despite being played in sub-zero temperatures, attracted a near-capacity crowd of 23,377, providing further evidence of the success of the tournament.

With prop Paul Rauhihi putting in a big performance in his first appearance as Kiwis captain and lock Wairangi Koopu impressive in his second test, New Zealand struck first midway through the opening spell.

A Rauhihi offload hit a British hand and the ball was snapped up by second rower Ali Lauitiiti, whose overhead pass allowed five-eighth Vinnie Anderson to grab his third try of the series.

The Lions hit back seven minutes later when a brilliant cutout pass from five-eighth Danny McGuire put centre Keith Senior on a clear path to the tryline.

However, just before half time, Lauitiiti offloaded to Clinton Toopi, who threw a miracle ball for fellow centre Nigel Vagana to cross.

Fullback Brent Webb's second conversion gave New Zealand an eight-point lead, but their inability to press on in the second half came back to haunt them.

A big break by Carney from deep inside his own territory set up an attack which the Irish winger finished off after being put into space by centre Martin Gleeson.

Then skipper Andy Farrell went through some weak defence to score, before another Gleeson pass set up Carney for his second try.

Next it was Carney who was provider, beating opposite Shontayne Hape before finding substitute Paul Johnson, who went over. Farrell landed his third goal to take the score out to 26-12.

To their credit, the Kiwis came back, replying first through substitute prop Alex Chan, who had replaced utility Robbie Paul on the bench in a late pre-match change.

With two minutes to go, Hape, who made up for his missed tackle against Carney by twice ensuring the Irishman didn't get past him again, got the Kiwis' final try.

Webb kick his fourth goal to close the gap to two points, but the Kiwis' run had come too late.

Anderson said getting a good start to the second half was something the tourists had spoken about.

"It's composure that we need to gain access to," he said.

"Sometimes you learn the hard way, through trial and error. The difference in this game was that we could have let the score go out, but we battled back and put some points on at the end."

Farrell said Great Britain were delighted to finished top and to have won three successive tests.

"But we're disappointed with a few things and we know we can improve," he said.

"The key thing was the character we showed in going behind and then coming back as we did."

Great Britain 26 (Carney 2, Senior, Farrell, Johnson tries; Farrell 3 goals)

New Zealand 24 (Vagana, Hape, Anderson, Chan tries; Webb 4 goals)

- NZPA