Rugby League: Kiwis worried about lack of tough games

The Kiwis are just one step away from a place in the rugby league World Cup final after demolishing France 54-6 in their quarter-final in Castleford yesterday.

New Zealand scored 10 tries to take their tally for the tournament to 48 in four games and a total of 260 points.

They now face England in the semifinal at Bolton on Sunday and on paper, look assured of facing Australia in the final at Old Trafford on November 26.

In the other quarter-final yesterday, Wales outclassed Papua New Guinea 22-8 at Widnes.

The Kiwis could not have been more impressive in slicing up the French defence. They led 30-0 at halftime and five-eighths Robbie Paul stuck his hand up for a semifinal place by scoring three tries for his country for the first time.

The gap between New Zealand and Australia, and the rest of the nations in the world, has never looked as wide as it has over the past two days.

Australia beat Samoa 66-10 on Sunday to advance to the semifinals, where they will meet Wales, who lost to New Zealand 18-58 last week.

The Kiwis are left scratching their heads, wondering how good they are.

They are a more formidable side than the one that suffered the 0-52 pummelling by the Australians in April.

But they will have to wait until next weekend against England to see if they have climbed back to the Kangaroos' level again.

Kiwis captain Richie Barnett said it was difficult to tell just how well the team were playing because of the easy opposition so far.

"The French weren't a tough game for us. Our problem is not having any hard games at this stage, where the English have had a few hard matches.

"Our next game will be our toughest yet and we might have a better idea then how much we have improved.

"England have an advantage over us, having experienced hard matches against Australia and Ireland.

"It's a concern for us that we haven't had any of those tight games yet. But our guys played extremely well today. It was a great performance. We take a lot of positives into the next game," Barnett said.

Stacey Jones should be available for selection next weekend.

He strained a leg muscle just after halftime in the win over Wales and was rested yesterday.

"I could have played against France but with two of the biggest weeks in my career coming up, it was best to rest," he said. "I'll be 100 per cent fit for the match against England."

Bitter cold in Castleford made it awkward for the backs to hit perfection and Nigel Vagana was annoyed when he let the ball slip through his fingers for French winger Claude Sirvent to sneak in for a try.

But Matt Rua, Craig Smith and Quentin Pongia were rock-solid up front, as was Ruben Wiki when he came off the bench.

Centre Willie Talau did enough to cement a place against England and Robbie Paul gave coach Frank Endacott plenty to think about with his hat-trick.

"I was happy with the intensity of our performance to a point and happy with the scoreline, but I know we have to lift it up another notch again to beat England," Endacott said.

"We'll get a lot more precision and urgency at training this week. I have a selection headache now, but I don't mind that. It's great having a full squad of 23 fit players to pick from."

Brian Jellick, Richie Blackmore, Stephen Kearney, Smith, Pongia, Talau and Rua also scored tries for the Kiwis.

Henry Paul kicked a penalty and six conversions.

In Widnes, three first-half tries by Jason Critchley, Lee Briers and Wes Davies, and three conversions and a penalty by Iestyn Harris, gave the Welsh a 20-2 halftime lead.

Harris added another penalty in the second half before John Wilshere, who had kicked a penalty, broke away on the right to score a try for Papua New Guinea. He converted to to finish with all his side's points.

- NZPA

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