League: No strife on Kiwis' road to the final

Frank Pritchard. Photo / Getty Images

The identity of three of the four teams involved in this weekend's World Cup semifinals was never in doubt but they have taken varying paths to this point, on and off the field.

Overall, the Kiwis have been the most impressive of the three. They have played very well at times, have improved with each week and have been incident-free off the pitch.

Australia and England have been rocked by internal ructions that have threatened to upset their campaigns.

For England, it happened before the tournament started when Gareth Hock was put out of the squad for a "serious" breach of team discipline - he went out drinking after the defeat to Italy in a warmup game, then missed a team recovery session - and prop James Graham was suspended for the World Cup opener against Australia, also for drinking.

A fortnight later, Zak Hardaker withdrew from the squad for "personal reasons" which were later revealed to involve drinking and discipline issues.

Australia's issues started when Josh Papalii was mugged on his first night in England, and reports surfaced this week that captain Cameron Smith and Nate Myles twice nearly came to blows.

Fullback Billy Slater was also held by police after a fight outside a Manchester nightclub at 3am.

As one member of the Kiwis staff said afterwards, "nothing good happens after midnight".

The Kiwis aren't smug about being free from incidents because they know they are only one bad decision away from also receiving unwanted attention.

They also haven't been free of incidents in the past, such as in 2007 when a handful of players were accused of sexual assault after their 58-0 drubbing by Australia in Wellington. No charges were laid after the woman decided not to pursue the matter.

The Kiwis have talked often about being a tight group and refer to it as their "brotherhood".

There's definitely a bond and having such an important goal to work towards probably helps keep everyone focused.

"The boys know the Kiwi way and we have a policy in the playing group that once you buy into it it's a brotherhood," said second-rower Frank Pritchard, the squad's oldest player.

"We have rules and regulations that players have to abide by. Once you buy into it, you find yourself connected to one another. That's where I come in and try to show the boys how it is. We have a big thing in the group, we are just caretakers of the jersey so I'm very honoured to be picked to play for the Kiwis. Much respect to the players before us."

The players have other rules - and injured utility Thomas Leuluai collects the team fines - but none on drinking.

"There are no rules," coach Stephen Kearney said. "They are smart and know when to have a good time. I trust them that they will make the right decisions. That's easy. The senior leadership group play a big role in that."

It's similar to what goes on in the All Blacks. Senior players are increasingly more empowered and are often left to govern things inside the camp. A stern word from a teammate delivered in front of the group is often worse than one from the coach.

Boredom has probably been an issue in other teams but Kiwis captain Simon Mannering said it's been an easy group to lead.

"Once you get into this group and you're representing your country, you're doing a lot of things well," he said. "You have the ability as a football player but you're also someone who's pretty professional off the field.

"I think it was important that when you are away from home that long you keep fairly busy away from football. The management have set up the structures of the tour really well.

"Everyone has enjoyed themselves, but still stuck to what we are here for, which is winning football games. We are just hoping it continues because we don't want it to finish up just yet."