Rugby League: Classy Kiwis begin World Cup strongly

GLOUCESTER - For all the excitement about the Kiwis' overwhelming 64-0 opening World Cup rugby league win yesterday, the Kiwis know that their opponents, Lebanon, were not Australia - despite their accents.

New Zealand rattled in 12 tries to open their tournament against a Lebanese team dominated by Australian-based players, but could draw few conclusions from the match.

New Zealand's next game, against the Cook Islands at Reading on Friday morning (NZ time) will be more of the same tepid opposition, but coach Frank Endacott believes these games are vital for the Kiwis to get up to speed for tournament favourites Australia.

"Lebanon certainly tested us and I thought we handled the conditions nigh on perfectly, and I was very happy with the result and the way we played," he said.

"The Lebanese played with gusto and the 64-0 scoreline looked pretty one-sided but they never gave in," he said.

On a dry day and a hard ground, New Zealand might have run up 100 points against the concocted team representing the Middle East, and the Kiwis could take a lot of heart from the result.

Gale-force winds and driving rain should have ruined the game as a spectacle but the Kiwis looked in superb touch, defying Endacott's predictions that they would be rusty after a three-month break.

New cap Tonie Carroll, who scored two tries on debut, felt it was difficult to judge the performance because of the stormy conditions.

Skipper Richie Barnett was named player of the day. He scored one of the five first-half tries and looked comfortable in the physical contact area of the game, showing no nerves in completing his first game since badly damaging his face in the Anzac day test in Sydney.

New Zealand's only niggling injury from the match was a twisted ankle to Henry Paul, who went off in the first 30 minutes, nut Endacott said the star Bradford goalkicker would turn out against the Cooks.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand Maori side had given up on progressing further in the World Cup four minutes from fulltime in Glasgow yesterday.

The Maori side were locked at 16-16 with Scotland before Gene Ngamu landed a wobbly field goal to win the match 17-16.

The win keeps alive the Maori hopes of qualifying top in their pool and playing England in the quarter-finals.

"I had kissed goodbye to the World Cup when it was 16-16 and fulltime almost up," Maori assistant coach Dean Bell said. "We got the message out on to the field to put over a drop-kick. No one was more glad than me when Gene put it between the posts from 15m out.

"But we played rubbish rugby league today. We have to work on our attitude. I feel the guys thought just because they were playing Scotland it would not be a hard game."

At Wrexham, a second-half hat-trick of tries from Kris Tassell enabled Wales to stave off the threat of a giantkilling act by the brave Cook Islands for a 38-6 win.

- NZPA