League: 'We couldn't have played any worse'

Lance Hohaia tries to repel a determined Kangaroo attack in Saturday night's defeat. Photo / Dean Purcell

There was no sugar-coating it from the Kiwis as they surveyed the wreckage of Saturday night's Eden Park defeat.

Having sent out his top side to face Australia's second string, coach Stephen Kearney was left to make a damning assessment of their 20-34 defeat.

"We couldn't have played any worse," he said.

While a mid-match spurt sparked by bench forwards Frank Pritchard, Ben Matulino and Greg Eastwood coupled with a late Benji Marshal-inspired fightback made Kearney's view debatable, it certainly wasn't far from the mark.

"It just wasn't good enough," concurred captain Marshall. "We let ourselves down, our fans down and ultimately the country down."

While the twinkling feet and quick hands he displayed to set up Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Jason Nightingale for late consolation tries may yet be part of the solution in Brisbane, Marshall was undoubtedly a big part of the problem in Auckland.

His lame missed tackle allowed Cooper Cronk to score from Australia's first meaningful possession, and a decision to kick an early penalty goal and his botched kick-off contributed heavily to the serious hole the Kiwis found themselves in after just 24 minutes.

"You let any team get to an 18-2 start in any test match you put yourself under pressure," Marshall said.

You let the Kangaroos out to a lead like that and you are stone cold dead, he may as well have added.

Marshall wasn't the lone villain. Prop Frank-Paul Nuuausala's daydream let the Kangaroos recover an offload that ultimately led to their first try and his dumb first tackle offload led directly to their second.

Wing Sam Perrett also had a nightmare outing. The usually dependable Rooster twice fell off attempts to spot tackle Brent Tate, with the result a try conceded and another barely avoided, and was also outmuscled by Tate on the line to concede another score.

The impact of Pritchard, Matulino and Eastwood was a rare bright spot, but even that ended in gloom when the excellent Pritchard departed with a knee injury that seems likely to keep him out of the final.

Although beaten comprehensively by the likes of Tate and Brett Morris out wide, the Kiwis lost the game on the ground, where they were outmuscled and out-wrestled by the Kangaroos. The resulting painfully slow play-the-balls denied the Kiwis any rhythm, while the Kangaroos launched lightning strikes at will.

"Sometimes you earn the right to play quickly and I thought Australia did that," Kearney said. "Our first up contact in defence was poor and consequently we were on the back foot. Australia's first contact was good so they have a right to slow it up."

Ruck speed was among many areas his side needed to address before Saturday's final, Kearney said.

High among his list of concerns will be the form of bench hooker Issac Luke. The Souths dynamo has been a shadow of his usual self in this tournament. On Saturday his major achievement was to slap giant prop David Shillington off the ball and then get decked in the resulting scuffle.

The Kiwis somehow pocketed two points from the altercation, but that did little to obscure Luke's lack of impact.

There were plenty of other fights as the Kiwis' frustrations matched those of the bumper crowd, but nothing Kangaroos captain Cameron Smith felt was beyond the pale.

"Test footy is played with a lot of intensity and a lot of emotion at times," Smith said. "When the big boys get upset the punches start flying. But I thought [referee] Richard [Silverwood] did a great job."

Silverwood did far from a great job when Simon Mannering was bundled into touch despite two of his teammates adding weight to the tackle.

Silverwood should have ordered the tackle halted. Instead he allowed play to continue and awarded the Kangaroos a scrum from which Morris scored.

The try took the score out to 34-10, sparking a mini-riot during which bottles were thrown on the pitch.

"Luckily they were plastic bottles," Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens said.

Having fielded four debutants, Sheens hailed his young side's composure in the hostile environment.

"They did everything they could to intimidate us, including the atmosphere in the crowd," Sheens said.

Smith, who narrowly avoided being hit by a flying plastic shot glass as he lined up a conversion, wasn't overly fazed by crowd disturbances that included a streaker running on as the Kiwis attempted to deal with a grubber into their in-goal area.

"I was probably ducking more than the other boys because I was on the bench so I was a bit closer to the crowd," Smith said of the second half barrage. "I thought the officials did a good job."