Roos rule on Gold Coast
Australia eased the pain of their Four Nations final defeat with a 20-10 victory over New Zealand in the 12th ANZAC Test at Skilled Park.
By Joe Drabble
Last Updated: 06/05/11 4:19pm
Australia eased the pain of their Four Nations final defeat with a 20-10 victory over New Zealand in the 12th ANZAC Test at Skilled Park.
In a rematch of the 2010 showpiece from six months ago, Australia capitalised on an error-strewn display from the Kiwis to record a comfortable victory on the Gold Coast.
Billy Slater, who added a second try 12 minutes from time, started the ball rolling after barely two minutes following a mix-up in the visitors' defence.
Debutants Jharad Yow Yeh and Matthew Duffle then exchanged first half scores to keep the game close, but Slater and a powerful Jamal Idris effort took the game away from New Zealand, who had to be content with scoring the try of the match at the death through Lance Hohaia.
Errors
The first two minutes could not have been more chaotic for the Kiwis and they came out of them six points down.
New Zealand Warriors forward Sam Rapira had to leave the field after injuring his hand in the first carry of the game following a collision with Sam Thaiday, before Slater opened the scoring for the hosts.
Slater, who made high-profile errors in the World Cup and Four Nations finals between these two in 2008 and 2010, managed to reach out and touch down after St Helens-bound Hohaia had spilled Darren Lockyer's high kick.
New Zealand were unable to get out of their own half in the early stages and then when they did fashion a chance, it ended up with them conceding.
Hohaia did brilliantly to escape his in-goal area after gathering a Jonathan Thurston kick, and started up a move that saw his side develop a right-wing overlap.
But Shaun Kenny-Dowall allowed himself to be dragged in touch and, from the resulting play, Australia switched to their right and Lockyer laid on a pass to Paul Gallen who put Yow Yeh in for a debut try.
New Zealand managed to stem the tide, though, and gradually grew into the game before scoring themselves four minutes before the break.
Brilliant
Benji Marshall stripped Thurston of possession and, after Lewis Brown had smashed through the tackles of Lockyer, Thaiday and Justin Hodges, he played Melbourne winger Duffie in for a debut try, with Marshall converting from the touchline.
Australia nearly rounded the half off in style when Lockyer broke through, but debutant Idris, on for the injured Greg Inglis, was brilliantly denied by a last-ditch tackle from Simon Mannering.
Handling errors continued to stymie New Zealand's progress in the second half and they paid a heavy price on 58 minutes when Slater struck again.
A needless knock on from Bronson Harrison fell into the hands of Ben Hannant and, after the prop had flicked a pass up to Slater, the full-back raced 60 metres to score in the corner.
That broke New Zealand's resistance and, after Jason Nightingale spilled possession, the rampaging Idris smashed his way over two tacklers to score.
New Zealand managed to end on a high, though, with Hohaia going in after Kieran Foran's deft kick through.
