Rugby League: Kiwis triumphant

By Peter Jessup

There was roadkill in South Auckland for a 20-minute spell last night, the Kiwis putting four tries on the Kangaroos in the best start they've ever had in a test match.

Belief was the word. The Kiwis had a new-found confidence.

But in the second spell the Kangaroos threw everything at them, had all the points and finally made a game of it with three return tries and a 24-22 scoreline.

There was only a minute to go.

It was a credit to the New Zealanders that they muscled up, rolled the Kangaroo forwards, forced errors. And they made very, very few mistakes, an excellent completion rate their winner.

The Kiwis had the best possible start, as at the Anzac test half Stacey Jones finding a gap from dummy half. Willie Talau came at speed and went through two tacklers to score near the posts, Henry Paul converting after five minutes. It just got better when Jones went again, put a slip pass around two defenders for Steve Kearney and he gave it inside to prop Jason Lowrie, just on the field, to run the last 15m like a back. Another kick and it was 12-0 at 11 minutes.

And the Aussies were rocked, as the stadium music suggested. They kicked out on the full, threw a pass over the sideline when 10m out.

At 20 minutes they were back behind their goal line again, hands on hips, looking at each other for an answer after Steve Kearney went off another Jones ball and spun out of Robbie Ross' tackle. Paul converted, 18-0 and if it wasn't for grand final memories you'd have said it was all over.

It was the best start a Kiwi side has EVER had against the Kangaroos. So Brad Fittler dropped the ball first pass out from the scrum, something you NEVER see.

They got one back through Matthew Gidley with two to go but Mat Rogers' kick continued the bad run and went off the upright. So Nigel Vagana took advantage of another Jones break to go over out wide and Paul booted it over from the sideline for 24-4.

Chris Anderson would have given them the "remember the grand final" speech at loud volume at the break. But the boys who did the job in turning a 14-0 deficit to the Dragons to a 20-18 win to Melbourne were playing for us.

Mat Rogers had first points in the second spell with a simple run-around of a quick backline spread and converted. The Ericsson crowd of around 22,000 and no gaps for a change was into into the Mexican wave when Brad Fittler ran under the posts.

They underestimated the strength and committment of the Aussies, their centre Russel Richardson ruled out with one touchdown then smashing over minutes later.

New captain Richie Barnett stepped up with a huge game, great takes of the high ball, two terrific tackles to cut down Wendell Sailor when he ran 50m and looked like scoring, and a great line break to set Lesley Vainikolo away for a touchdown ruled out by the video ref.

Roll on the final.

Kiwis 24. (Willie Talau, Jason Lowrie, Stephen Kearney, Nigel Vagana. Henry Paul four conversions, penalty.)

Kangaroos 22. (Matthew Gidley, Mat Rogers, Brad Fittler, Russell Richardson. Rogers three conversions.)