Well, that was some performance by New Zealand who looked like they wanted the win more than Australia. Committed in defence, capable in attack, they were deserving victors. That’s their first Anzac Test win since 1998 and it marks three wins in a row over the Aussies. The Kiwis are now, I believe, the league world’s No.1 ranked team.
As for Australia, that was an atypical performance. It wasn’t just that they were beaten for enthusiasm but also that they seemed to have lost their playbook and resorted to making it up as they went along. That could have had something to do with New Zealand’s up-and-in defence. Or the reliance on ageing players, or any number of things that will no doubt get thrown around in the aftermath.
But nothing can take the glory away from New Zealand tonight. Not even the Logies. Especially not the Logies.
That’s my mum calling, so I’m off for dinner. Thanks for your eyes and your interest. See you all next time.
Full-time: Australia 12-26 New Zealand
Not that it matters. That’s it, folks, the Kiwis have won after a game of two-halves: the first showcasing their attacking ability, the second their defensive starch. The official man of the match?
Take a bow Kiwis. You've done #NewZealand proud. @ManuVatuvei Man of the Match #FeedTheBeast RETWEET THAT #RoosKiwis pic.twitter.com/crYGcUxlN4
— Vodafone Warriors (@NZWarriors) May 3, 2015
80 min: Possible coup de grace here for New Zealand! Johnson kicks inside after a squirt (of sorts) down the right. Kenny-Dowall is first to it and he falls over the line with the ball. But it was a knock-on, he couldn’t quite hold it.
79 min: And Johnson picks up a loose ball and sets sail for the Aussie line from 70m out. Inglis goes after him and slowly slowly rounds him up. Some 15m out from the Australian line he collars him. I would have backed Johnson to score there but perhaps it was just too far out for Johnson, or he’s just too stuffed from tackling. Inglis has sure got some toe, however.
78 min: The game is winding down now and New Zealand have it in the bag. This will be the first time since 1952-53 that the Kiwis have won three on the trot against Australia.
Still the Kiwis keep turning up in defence.
76 min: Tuivasa-Sheck cleans up a Thurston grubber in his in-goal before he’s tackled. Drop out New Zealand.
You worried about missing the Nine news? And the Logies red carpet afterwards? Nah, me either.
75 min: “This Australian team has got very old before our eyes,” says Phil Gould, stressing the Kangaroos need to keep young talent coming through. “We’ve got to blood new players,” he says. But when? This is the only Test match all year.
74 min: Greg Bird, showing he’s got a few kangaroos loose in his top paddock, picks up a well-held Nightingale and flips him. Nightingale lands awkwardly (without quite being driven) on the turf and Bird goes on report.
Updated
73 min: And the Aussies go over on the right after Thurston floats a lovely pass to Luke Lewis on the right wing! But it’s a forward pass according to the ref! Not much in it but he looked on the money.
71 min: With nine to go Johnson, who has played well tonight, does the smart thing and rolls the ball into touch on the sixth and last. The Australians feed the scrum 10m out from their own line. As I type I believe I just heard Dugan has gone off, limping, presumably, like a Robert Louis Stevenson pirate.
70 min: More scrambling from the Aussies and more committed Kiwi defence. This time is was Johnson nabbing Jennings; and his driving tackle on the Aussie centre caused the ball to come loose. Surely the Aussies have no chance now.
69 min: Dugan is hit for six when Eastwood goes low to stop a promising run by the Aussie winger. Eastwood’s shoulder made contact with Dugan’s left quad and it was enough to cartwheel the Dragon. That would have hurt, like the worst dead leg you’ve ever had.
68 min: The Aussies attack but despite lots of offloads there’s little structure to their play. It’s all very ad-lib and the Kiwis keep knocking them over as the Aussies scramble. The Kiwis have now made 40 more tackles than Australia after all this recent pressure. They are standing strong.
67 min: More last tackle scrambling from Australia sees Bird called for a knock on despite facing his own posts. Looked a harsh call but Australia weren’t going anywhere. But now Eastwood loses the pill after getting up from a tackle right on the halfway line.
Updated
64 min: Tamou spills the ball after an inside pass from Cronk. He was 10m out and desperate to fund a runner but all he did was give the ball to the Kiwis. A lovely run from Nightingale promotes the ball to the halfway line before Inglis drags him down like an idiot brother.
62 min: Not this set, that ends with Thurston roosting the ball only for it to be caught with comfort by... didn’t quite see.
Conversion! Australia 12-26 New Zealand (Thurston 59)
I could have sworn I saw the touchies wave that away but it’s a goal and the Aussies now trail by 14. Can they grab another quick one and put the wobbles in the Kiwi legs?
Try! Australia 10-26 New Zealand (Chambers 59)
It was coming after all that possession, but is it too late? After a left-to-right shift that involved two second-man plays Chambers received the ball on the right and stepped inside Foran, reaching out to score.
58 min: Some hot potato football on the last ends up with Vatuvei fumbling a Lewis kick, and Dugan, almost in Vatuvei’s pocket, picks it up. Dugan does remarkably well to skirt the sideline with Vatuvei all over him but as he lunges for the line Vatuvei hauls him back and Dugan’s desperate attempt to reach the line ends up a few centimetres short. But we’ll go back for the knock-on.
57 min: Kenny-Dowall gives away a penalty and now the Aussies come again, 40m out. You get the feeling that an Aussie try could be followed by another soon after —the Waiting for the Bus Effect— but they’ll need to get that first one first.
Updated
55 min: Two sets later, out of ideas, Greg Bird puts up a midfield bomb from 40m out that nobody expects... nobody on his team, at least. An easy catch for Tuivasa-Sheck.
53 min: No try! Another Thurston kick in behind; this time to Dugan on the right. He passed back inside and Cronk threw himself at the line where he was hit by Tuivasa-Sheck in front, and Vatuvei from behind. Cronk got up claiming a try but he was a good 10cm short. A try saver from Tuivasa-Sheck.
53 min: And they may have just done so through Cronk...
52 min: Australia do appear to have raised their level of intensity but with less than 30 minutes left they’ll need to score soon.
50 min: Now the relieved Aussies have the ball, 30m out with six tackles up their sleeve. But again they waste the opportunity. After being hauled down short of the line by Issac Luke Nate Myles gets up to play it a few metres out and the ball comes loose. Luke gave it a nudge but escaped scrutiny and New Zealand will get the ball.
49 min: Manu just misses out on his hat-trick! The Kiwis ran the ball left and an around the back pass by Hiku put the ball on Vatuvei’s chest. From 10m out he barrelled to the line and only had to step inside Inglis to score. He did step inside Inglis, as it happened, but Inglis got his left mitt to the ball and knocked it out of Vatuvei’s arms just as he was about to crash over.
47 min: Nightingale is hit on the halfway line and in his attempt to lob the ball out the back all he does is gift it to Matt Scott. But the Aussies can’t make the most of it. A few plays later Kenny-Dowall intercepts the ball.
45 min: Australia come very close to a vital try: vital like a defibrillator when your heart has stopped. Thurston puts in a nice kick behind the line and Dugan on the right wing comes close to snaffling it and touching down before being forced out in the in-goal, but the replay shows he had his foot in touch.
44 min: Luke stops a quick play the ball with a second dig at the tackle and Australia are awarded a penalty 40m out.
42 min: It will take something special here, as a Twitterati makes a good point. This is hardly Tuvalu putting Australia to the sword:
Can we stop calling it an upset? They're Four Nations champions and beat us twice last year. #RoosKiwis
— Curtis Woodward (@CurtisWoodward1) May 3, 2015
Peeeep!
And the Aussies kick off having received a bollocking from Tim Sheens. Do they know that that’s the most points conceded by Australia at halftime? Ever.
And as we await the second half here’s a pic of Taupau responded to that poor tackle by Thaiday. Imagine Taupau doing that to you? You’d want to have a good pelvic floor.
Martin Taupau wants Kangaroo blood http://t.co/kGknmN4CSe #RoosKiwis #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/UGIlHEW0MH
— ONE News - Sport (@ONENewsSport) May 3, 2015
Half-time: Australia 6-26 New Zealand
Can the Aussies turn this around? If they do, they’ll need to show a lot more urgency.
As we await the second half, enjoy our halftime entertainment, a kind of treatise on trans Tasman relations:
Conversion! Australia 6-26 (Johnson 40)
From midway between the right upright and the corner post Johnson does his thing and the Kiwis will go to the sheds with a very handy lead.
Try! Australia 6-24 New Zealand (Kenny-Dowall 40)
And right on the bell the Kiwis get another! And again it was a try from a movement that should have been better dealt with. In midfield, Johnson found Tuivasa-Sheck who passed the parcel to Kenny-Dowall. The Rooster then passed to Nightingale on the right touchline. Nighingale kicked down field. Though it was a beautifully weighted kick Inglis got there first and attempted to shoo the ball over the dead-ball line but he missed it cold and it sat up for Kenny-Dowall to touch down!
Updated
Penalty! Australia 6-20 New Zealand (Johnson 39)
This is getting embarrassing now; not the scoreline so much but the ease with which New Zealand are putting points on. The Aussies look half asleep.
38 min: And with New Zealand on the attack they win a penalty when Thaiday puts a choke hold on Taupau. Taupau almost taps out but when he emerges from the tackle he runs a thumb across his throat, gesturing menacingly at Thaiday.
36 min: What don’t Australia need right now? To gift New Zealand another penalty that will see them get a full six 20m out in the shadows of halftime. What do Australia do? You guessed it.
36 min: And now, with the Aussies on the attack, Cronk drops the ball cold, 40m out from New Zealand’s line.
Conversion! Australia 6-18 New Zealand (Johnson 32)
And from just to the right of the posts Johnson adds the extras. What a productive little period this has been for the Kiwis.
Try! Australia 6-16 New Zealand (Johnson 32)
The Aussies have been stunned by back-to-back tries and this was too easy! The Kiwis shifted the ball left to right and Johnson caught it 10m out, right in front of the Aussie posts, and he simply stepped inside Thurston and, despite stumbling, dived over. That’s some step, however. All it needs is a puff of smoke to go with it.
Conversion! Australia 6-12 New Zealand (Johnston 28)
From 10m in from touch Johnson curls it over. I didn’t mention it before but that Kiwi tap was initially ruled a drop out, but a reply showed it was an Aussie hand and not Hiku who knocked it dead.
Updated
Try! Australia 6-10 New Zealand (Vatuvei 28)
A double for the Beast! Having worked their way up-field from the tap, Johnson chips a ball to the left and Hiku out-jumps Dugan to claim it. As he lands he spins and dishes to Vatuvei who just has to step inside Inglis from 2m out to score.
Updated
26 min: Peta Hiku goes down after trying to tackle Thaiday and he immediately calls for the trainers. It looks grim but after a moment to compose himself, and some strapping on his right shin, he’s suddenly okay. And moments later he foils a Cronk crossfield kick that goes dead after being touched by an Australian hand.
24 min: Luke loses the ball giving Australia a scrum 45m out. Luke is replaced straightaway. He could be a little dusty after that moment with Inglis.
21 min: Johnson’s conversion attempt from the left touchline shaves the left upright but now it’s the Kiwis with all the running. Another good take by Johnston defuses a bomb before Inglis gives Luke a fend that will linger in Luke’s memory.
Try! Australia 6-6 New Zealand (Vatuvei 20)
Everyone’s favourite Beast does his thing! The Kiwis worked the ball right to left and created an overlap. Vatuvei took it 10 metres out and was able to scoot around Chambers (actually, with those legs, Vatuvei cannot scoot... he rumbles) and though Chambers ankle tapped him Vatuvei had the momentum to dive over just inside the left corner flag.
20 min: Tamou stands on the sideline awaiting the call to come on, but meantime...
17 min: Nightingale foils an Aussie left side raid and the pressure he exerts sees the Aussies lose possession. A let off there for the Kiwis.
15 min: Foran, it was, who wore Thaiday’s shoulder and fell off the tackle.
The Aussies are surging now, playing with confidence and freedom. Chambers on the right grubbers the ball in behind Vatuvei and while the big winger gets to it first he’s tackled in goal. Another NZ drop out.
Conversion! Australia 6-2 New Zealand (Thurston 13m)
Thurston chips it over with nonchalance. That was a little too easy, really. New Zealand seemed to be expecting Australia to stretch it out to the right but Thaiday ran a good line and isolated a smaller defender.
Try! Australia 4-2 New Zealand (Thaiday 13m)
And from the resulting set Thaiday crashes over close to the uprights after taking a short ball from Cronk.
11 min: New Zealand to drop out after Tuivasa-Sheck cleans up a Cronk grubber. Cronk was cleaned up himself, Luke smashing him moments after he kicked. In the list of reasons why it’s better to watch top flight league than play it, that’s on it.
10 min: Nice first touch for Alex Johnston, leaping high to take a midfield bomb in traffic. And in the same set Mannering and Matulino give away a penalty for holding down Woods in the tackle. Australia 40m out.
Penalty! Australia 0-2 New Zealand (Johnson 8)
And he makes no mistake.
7 min: Back to back penalties; the second after Cameron Smith was pinged for holding down in the tackle. Considering it’s close enough to spit a peach pit over, Johnson will take the kick for goal...
6 min: Australia caught inside the 10m and the Kiwis win a penalty. They’ll be grateful for it. The Aussies were enjoying good field position and had the early momentum. Now they have a full set from 40m out.
4 min: The Kangaroos looked dangerous there, probing left and right, but in his haste to keep the ball moving Bird went for a risky offload on the left and it was picked up by New Zealand. Danger averted.
3 min: Penalty to Australia after the Kiwis take too long to peel away from the tackle and Australia find touch 30m out.
Peeeeeeep!
The Kiwis get us underway, kicking off, and Inglis takes it comfortably. Australia safely negotiate their first set.
The haka has come and gone and Issac Luke did well as usual. He gets his eyeballs bulging nicely, like Arnie in Total Recall. Anyway, here we go...
Not everyone likes the anthems. Or at least the fact that some players sing the wrong one.
Watching Tamou sing the Australian anthem always pisses me off. #rooskiwis
— Sam Porter (@BustaJoint) May 3, 2015
Not long now, folks. We’ve had the Last Post. Anthems coming up followed by, I presume, the haka. Can’t believe the state of the ground. It was underwater on Friday night. Looks a treat now, but it must be muddy underfoot.
Poor Suncorp! Always getting made fun of hahah pic.twitter.com/2OUSesrXL8
— Baron EH (@Baron_EH) May 1, 2015
Philip Kingsland wonders about the wisdom of playing Johnson over Marshall today... or indeed Foran over Marshall. Johnson’s form hasn’t been great, as I’ve already pointed out, but he was instrumental in the Kiwis’ Four Nations win and would anyone be surprised if the occasion brought the best out of him today? Not me. Would Marshall and Johnson be a feasible combination? Marshall has shelved a lot of his magic of late in order to be more of the directorial type, but perhaps he and Johnson together would be too much pixie dust and too little grunt. I like the foil of Foran and Johnson/Marshall.
Well done to Mahalia Murphy, player of the match in the Jillaroos vs Kiwi Ferns match:
What a player Mahalia Murphy - player of the match with a hat trick on debut. #RoosKiwis pic.twitter.com/wmLtxVv2UX
— Jillaroos (@AusJillaroos) May 3, 2015
Not sure what medal Murphy received to be honest. But I can tell you that the man-of-the-match in the game to come will awarded the Charles Savory Medal in honour of the New Zealand international who died in the Gallipoli campaign. Savory was one of four Kiwis to join the 1911-12 Australasian team for the Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. He was also a baritone singer and, when war broke out in 1914, the heavyweight boxing champion of New Zealand. That’s what you call an all-rounder.
So, thoughts on the teams?
Don’t be shy: drop me a line to paul.connolly@the guardian.com.
The way most will see it is that Thurston being back in the green and gold after missing the Four Nations will do the hosts the world of good, and the loss of Slater to injury is mitigated by Greg Inglis’ move to fullback where, of course, he plays for Souths. His place in the centres is taken by Michael Jennings. Handy. The all-Maroons spine of Inglis, Thurston, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith could well be the difference today.
For New Zealand, the most notable absentee is Jared Waerea-Hargreaves who was available (after a pectoral injury) but not picked. He doesn’t seem to be a must-have for Kearney, having not worn the black and white since 2013. The Panthers’ Watene-Zelezniak, however, is out with injury but his replacement is the redoubtable Jason Nightingale, a man so reliable that he joins the short list of wingers who are captains of their clubs.
The inclusion of Shaun Johnson, however, is interesting. While he is the reigning Golden Boot winner (for being the “best player in the world of rugby league”) his form for the New Zealand Warriors has not been good.
As such there were calls for veteran Benji Marshall —who is steering St George Illawarra around with the wit of Magellan— to replace him. But the Kiwi selectors kept faith in Johnson who had an outstanding Four Nations alongside Kieran Foran (who’ll keep him company again tonight).
Correction
Simon Mannering won the toss for the Kiwis. So the Aussies will bat first on this green top. Big occasion for those debutants:
Alex Johnston, @WJChambers4, @Josh_Dugan & @TrentMerrin receive their debut @Kangaroos jerseys from @WallyLewis9 pic.twitter.com/7wbsvE6XRJ
— Australian Kangaroos (@Kangaroos) May 3, 2015
You want teams? We got teams.
Australia
Greg Inglis, Alex Johnston, Michael Jennings, Will Chambers, Josh Dugan, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Matt Scott, Cameron Smith (c), 10 Aaron Woods, Greg Bird, Sam Thaiday, Corey Parker. Interchange: Luke Lewis, Trent Merrin, Nate Myles, James Tamou. Coach: Tim Sheens
New Zealand
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Jason Nightingale, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Peta Hiku, Manu Vatuvei, Kieran Foran, Shaun Johnson, Jesse Bromwich, Issac Luke, Ben Matulino, Tohu Harris, Kevin Proctor, Simon Mannering. Interchange: Thomas Leuluai, Martin Taupau, Sam Moa, Greg Eastwood, Lewis Brown. Coach: Steve Kearney
We’ve just seen the coin toss. Cameron Smith wins it for Australia and the Kangaroos will bat. Though the surface looks incredible, considering, there could be a bit of moisture in the pitch after all that rain so expect some early fireworks.
Nine commentator Darren Lockyer expects the dry conditions today to favour the Kiwis, as it will suit the games of the likes of Shaun Johnson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. Phil Gould wants every player to play like it’s his last game. Unless a meteor hits Earth sometime soon it won’t be, but I suppose he just wants them to lay it all on the line today.
All that rain created a backlog of fixtures and they’re coming home to roost now. Firstly, the World Champion Jillaroos got up against the Kiwi Ferns earlier today.
The @AusJillaroos have come away with a tough, yet very entertaining victory over the #KiwiFerns #RoosKiwis pic.twitter.com/ac7QNjQEVK
— NRL (@NRL) May 3, 2015
And the City vs Country game from Wagga has just ended with the bumpkins beating the slickers in a sell-out in Wagga. It attracts a lot of shrugs from punters sometimes but the players certainly seemed to care, and the good people of Wagga seemed more than happy to see some top flight league.
Country fire in 2nd Half to defeat City in Wagga Wagga. #CountryCity 34-22 at Full Time. #NRL pic.twitter.com/S4N0BhDP4K
— NRL (@NRL) May 3, 2015
You may have allowed this to slip from your memory, like the name of that bloke you keep seeing at Bunnings so regularly now that it’s way past the time you can ask him for his name again (“Maaaate!”), but if you’re a Kiwi you will no doubt be aware that your countrymen have defeated Australia on the past two occasions on which they’ve played: a group match and the final during October-November’s Four Nations tournament. A win for New Zealand tonight would see Steve Kearney’s men in black claim not just a hat-trick of wins but pinch the No.1 ranking from Australia. While there are only three teams realistically vying for that position it’s not a mantle Australia will want to relinquish.
The Kangaroos were decimated by injury concerns during the Four Nations (New Zealand had some of their own to be fair) and while the Kangaroos have some notable absentees again today (like Billy Slater, Paul Gallen and Brett Morris), and four debutants on show (Alex Johnston, Josh Dugan, Will Chambers and Trent Merrin), they nevertheless have a strong squad and there can be no excuses if the Kiwis make it three.
That said, the Anzac Test has not been a happy occasion for the Kiwis over the years. Since the annual match began in 1997 New Zealand have won just once, in 1998, when Matthew Ridge and Co. won 22-16 in North Harbour.
Ever since it’s been a cavalcade of green and gold up to and including last year’s match won 30-18 by Australia in Sydney. New Zealand seem much more capable of beating Australia post season than during it. Please write possible explanations for that on the back of an envelope and pop it in the post. I’ll await the postie.
Afternoon, all
Welcome to the Guardian’s minute-by-minute coverage of Friday night’s today’s Anzac Test between Australia and New Zealand coming to you from what we here call ‘Nana’s room’; the tiny spare room in my home where my mum stays when she’s in town. To be clear, today’s match is not taking place in this room (it’s just where I’m currently parked) but rather the best football stadium in the country, Suncorp Stadium (née Lang Park), which is considerably more spacious than Nana’s room on account of it not having an old, ugly, out-of-tune pianola taking up half the square meterage.
The news from Brisbane is that the dove sent from the ark found an olive branch and we’re now back on dry land —unlike Friday night which was wetter than a certain Wet, Wet, Wet music video. So wet, you’ll recall, that first the curtain-raiser (a match between the Australian Combined Armed Services and NZ Defence Forces) to the curtain-raiser (the Jillaroos versus the Kiwi All Ferns) was postponed. Then the curtain raiser was similarly called off, and finally, for the first time ever in Australia, the Test match itself. While that robbed us of the opportunity of seeing something akin to Turkish wrestling, if you like that sort of thing, it has meant that we now have a dry day and can thus expect to see a faster game.
But slow or fast, it shouldn’t matter. This is Test rugby league between two nations who don’t let mutual respect get in the way of belting the living daylights out of each other. What more could we ask for?
Kickoff: 4pm
Paul will be along shortly to bring you the latest from Brisbane. In the meantime, perhaps it’s time to remind yourselves of the incredible story of Olsen Filipaina, the Kiwi who overcame racism, homesickness and hard times in Balmain before getting the better of Kangaroos legend Wally Lewis in one of the most memorable trans-Tasman clashes 30 years ago.
Olsen Filipaina was a pathfinder. The first to show what Polynesians could do. Olsen was the face of hope for many Polynesians who were disadvantaged by lack of opportunity. I just love the guy.
That, from the mouth of Graham Lowe, the former New Zealand, Queensland, Manly and Wigan coach, and much more in Patrick Skene’s fantastic piece here.
