Rugby League: Controversial win for Great Britain

By CHRIS BARCLAY in WIGAN

The Kiwis' desire to win a third successive series against Great Britain ended yesterday as the British halted a nine-game winless streak against the tourists.

The home side toppled the Kiwis with a pulsating and controversy-tainted 16-10 victory in the third test.

Although the series ended 1-1, Great Britain paraded the Albert Baskerville Trophy after the Kiwis decided the winner at JJB Stadium would be the inaugural holders.

The Kiwis won the first test 30-16 at Blackburn while last week's second international ended in a 14-14 stalemate in Huddersfield.

Great Britain, who went on a victory lap after Rule Britannia reverberated around the stadium, were worthy winners, although refereeing decisions contributed to their first success over New Zealand since 1993.

Referee Steven Clark again punished the Kiwis at the play-the-ball, and the Australian's patience wore thin in the 50th minute when teenage standoff Lance Hohaia was sinbinned for holding down Mike Forshaw.

Kiwis coach Gary Freeman was critical of Clark, who dished out a 6-3 penalty count in favour of Great Britain.

In the first two matches the Kiwis conceded 18 penalties and received eight, with a dozen given for interference at the play-the-ball. They were penalised three times inside the first 10 minutes yesterday - and warned - for delaying tactics they argue would be tolerated in the NRL.

"Just when we were getting on a roll or had them on the fourth tackle they would always get a penalty," Freeman lamented.

"The best referee in the world should have been doing the games and he wasn't here today."

Freeman was also amazed that video referee Dave Campbell awarded a try to the British centre Martin Gleeson after wing Leon Pryce appeared to knock the ball on as he outjumped Sean Hoppe when chasing a bomb in the 26th minute.

"I don't know how the video referee gave that try. It was an ordinary decision.

"There will be a lot of Kiwis back home saying, 'How did he make that decision'?"

Although the Kiwis griped about the refereeing, a lack of possession, leaky defence and handling errors all played a part, as Freeman acknowledged.

"Our defence up to this game had been solid, but we missed a lot of tackles.

"We forced a couple of balls. The boys feel flat, they know we had great opportunities to win the series, but we let it slip, especially in the second game."

The Kiwis trailed 8-0 at halftime and were fortunate the deficit was not greater considering the glut of possession the British enjoyed.

The home side had only tries from Gleeson and fellow centre Keith Senior to show from a period of dominance before a crowd of 22,247.

Man-of-the-match Senior powered past wing Henry Fa'afili after collecting a cut-out pass from Andy Farrell to open the scoring in the seventh minute.

Wing Lee Gilmour, giant prop Paul Anderson, captain Farrell and halfback Paul Deacon also threatened to score, but were denied by scrambling Kiwis defence.

By halftime, British coach David Waite thought his team had made enough breaks to "probably win two test matches."

Farrell extended the lead to double figures with a handy 18-metre penalty goal after Hohaia was marched in the 50th minute.

But the Kiwis responded five minutes later when Swain broke near halfway, drawing fullback Gary Connolly before passing to Logan Swann, who flicked a smart reverse pass for Jones who scampered to the line.

Jones, named man of the series, converted his try but equally inspirational Lions' standoff Paul Sculthorpe inflicted the vital blow.

The Kiwis then looked likely after a Jones' break, but the ball was turned over, Senior charged 50m down the touchline and in a flash Sculthorpe ghosted between Awen Guttenbeil and Francis Meli to touch down behind the posts in the 68th minute.

Ali Lauiti'iti gave the Kiwis some faint hope when he rounded off a spectacular 70m breakout which included kicks from Swain and Jones with four minutes to play, but the Lions would not crack again.

Jones feared a long season had finally caught up with the players.

"It's been mentally draining.

"They made a lot of breaks and I think it showed we've been away a long time."

- NZPA