Rugby League: Cup star faces demotion to the sidelines

Record-breaking five-eighth Tasesa Lavea is unlikely to feature again for the Kiwis in the league World Cup tournament despite his haul of 32 points against the Cook Islands yesterday.

Lavea smashed Henry Paul's record of 26 points against Tonga a year ago during the Kiwis' 84-10 crushing of the Cooks in a lopsided cup match in Reading.

The Melbourne player is likely to make way in the remaining games for the Paul brothers.

Twenty-year-old Lavea, who kicked 12 goals and scored two tries, narrowly missed the chance to equal two other World Cup records.

He went within two points of equalling Australian Mat Rogers' 34 points established earlier against Fiji, and the Kiwis failed by two points to match the Kangaroos' World Cup record score of 86 points set against South Africa in 1995.

"Records don't bother me too much, but I was pleased that Tasesa broke the New Zealand record and I was hoping he would have put that last kick over to equal the world record," Kiwis coach Frank Endacott said after the game.

"It was a good scoreline for us and we scored some lovely tries. The thing that pleased me was our defence and we came through without any injuries.

"A lot of the new players impressed me and it's going to be tough to come up with the 17 for the match against Wales on Monday. I've got a whole squad to pick from and every one of them is good enough to play."

The Kiwis led 48-4 at halftime.

If they beat Wales they will play Papua New Guinea or Tonga in the quarter-finals at Castleford on November 14.

They seem destined to meet England in the semifinal at Bolton on November 20, and on their form in front of 3982 shivering fans yesterday, they will be difficult to stop.

In other matches, Wales made hard work of beating outsiders Lebanon 24-22 in Llanelli and Papua New Guinea downed South Africa 16-0 in Toulouse.

Wales, who led 18-6 at halftime, hung on by their fingertips as two late Hasan Saleh tries almost gave Lebanon a share of the spoils.

Wales dominated a one-sided first half, running in four tries before the Lebanese found their feet with a try of their own after 35 minutes.

The Welsh lost their composure and took their feet off the gas as the first half drew to a close and that pattern was repeated in the second.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Maori coach Cameron Bell has held off naming his team for their final match until they reach Dublin today.

The team were disappointed with their 16-21 loss to Samoa in Workington on Thursday. After starting as group favourites, they are now staring at a first-round exit unless they beat Ireland tomorrow and Samoa dispose of Scotland.

But Bell stood by his decision to rest his frontline players for the second game against Samoa, making seven changes to the side who beat the Scots 17-16 in the opener in Glasgow.

"I brought a squad here to play, not for some to carry water," he said. "I know that even a win may not be enough to get us through in Ireland, but we would just have to accept it."

- NZPA

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