Kiwis' welcome win

Paul Cullen told Sky Sports that New Zealand will be relieved to have broken their World Cup duck.

Relief more than delight was the over-riding emotion for New Zealand as they got their World Cup up and running with victory over Papua New Guinea. That was the verdict of Sky Sports' Paul Cullen as the Kiwis bounced back from their opening defeat by Australia to hammer the Pool A underdogs. Stephen Kearney's side ran in nine tries at Skilled Park and looked markedly better than England did against the same opposition a week earlier. But Cullen says that the New Zealand coach will just be happy to get that opening win under his belt. "He will be very pleased and, I think, very, very relieved," he told Sky Sports. "I think though we have seen that Papua New Guinea shot their bolt last weekend - they've had their Lloyd Honeyghan moment, they've jumped off the stool and knocked the man out before the referee's had a chance to look around! "They got off the mark very early against England and scored the first try and their confidence blossomed off the back of it. It was very important for them to score first that day but it didn't happen. "And from then on, New Zealand just took control. "They were not overly-convincing, the half-backs didn't always fire. But that's going to happen if you're a losing a player that has the ability of Benji Marshall at half-time, who say himself down to rest up for next week." Cullen believes the Kiwis did well to learn from England's struggle against the same opposition. Where Tony Smith's men were caught cold, Kearney had clearly primed his time to get in the Kumuls' faces, put them under pressure from the word go and force the turnovers in possession. And, says the former Warrington Wolves coach, that was the secret to their success. "The one thing they've got right in this game is they've won the collision," he said. "They realised they had to kick well, they had to chase well and that they had to be very good on the first, second and third tackles and now allow Papua New Guinea to get any kind of foothold whatsoever. "On plays one, two and three they were being hit, knocked about by three of four guys in the tackle and that meant there was no forward movement."