By Richard Cowley, Date: 14/10/12
In what was a hard fought test match the Australian’s as they have done so many times before crossed the line in the last 10 minutes of the game to seal victory against the Kiwis 18 – 10 in Townsville in front of 26,479 fans on Saturday night.
New Zealand crossed the line 8 minutes into the first half after Issac Luke darted out of dummy half to put the ball over the line. Krisnan Inu converted to put the Kiwis in front 0 – 6. Australia hit back in the 23rd minute when Cameron Smith crossed out wide. Jonathan Thurston missed the conversion to leave the the Kiwis still in the lead 4 – 6.
The Kangaroos started to dominate the game and crossed the line again at the 35 minute mark via Josh Hoffman. Jonathan Thurston converting to put the Australian’s further ahead 10 – 6. Just on full time Marshall puts up a bomb which after some quick passing saw Gerard Beale cross in the corner. Inu missed the conversion from out wide to leave the Kiwis and Kangaroos all locked up at half time at 10 all.
The first 20 minutes of the 2nd half was a tight battle which lead to Australia to uncharacteristicaly taking a shot for goal after a penalty in the 62nd minute to grab the lead 12 -10. Australia put the game to bed in the 72nd minute with Darius Boyd putting the ball down under the posts leaving a easy conversion attempt for Jonathan Thurston. The final score of 18 – 10 indicating the closeness of the teams.
One big positive the Kiwis will take out of the game is that they matched it with the Kangaroos for most of the game. If the Kiwis can fine tune some of their attacking raids they have a big chance of holding onto the title of “World Cup Champions” in next years World Cup. They will have a new weapon in their attacking arsenal next year called Sonny Bill Williams.
