Richard Cowley, Date: 20/4/13
In front of a full house down in cold and windy Canberra the Australia’s continued their dominance of one off test matches against New Zealand.
Cooper Cronk crossed the line just after 5 minutes into the test match and Cameron Smith converted to put Australia in front by 6.
The next 35 minutes of play saw the grit of a true test match take hold has both sides defended well and the kiwis squandered opportunities to get on the score board. Some would say the Kiwis didn’t get the rub of the green with some of the referee calls.
On the half time buzzer Josh Hoffman crossed out wide and Shaun Johnson made sure New Zealand secured the extra 2 points. This saw both teams go into half time locked at 6 all.
The second half was a different story. Just 10 minutes into the 2nd half the Kiwis opened the floodgates. The Australian’s ran in 5 tries with 4 of them taking place over a 9 minute period.
New Zealand crossed for a consolation try late in the match. The final score Australia 32 – New Zealand 12
The Kiwis can take a lot from the match against Australia and will be well prepared come World Cup time, when they have all their stars back on board. Simon Mannering pulled out due to injury just before kick-off which added to Kiwi injury list that included the likes of Sonny Bill Williams and Benji Marshall.
As it happened:
5 minute mark – Cooper Cronk scores under the posts AUS 4 – NZ 0, Cameron Smith converts from in front AUS 6 – NZ 0
40 minute mark – Josh Hoffman scores on half time AUS 6 – NZ 4, Shaun Johnson converts AUS 6 – NZ 6
Half Time Score – Australia 6 – New Zealand 6
51 minute mark – Greg Inglis scores AUS 10 – NZ 6, Cameron Smith converts AUS 12 – NZ 6
53 minute mark – Brett Morris scores AUS 16 – NZ 6, Cameron Smith misses conversion AUS 16 – NZ 6
58 minute mark – Luke Lewis scores under the posts AUS 20 – NZ 6, Cameron Smith converts AUS 22 – NZ 6
61 minute mark – Darius Boyd scores out wide AUS 26 – NZ 6, Cameron Smith misses conversion AUS 26 – NZ 6
72 minute mark – Justin Hodges scores under the posts AUS 30 – NZ 6, Cameron Smith converts AUS 32 – NZ 6
78 minute mark – Frank Pritchard scores AUS 32 – NZ 10, Shaun Johnson converts AUS 32 – NZ 12
Full Time Score – Australia 32 – New Zealand 12
Canberra Stadium.
Referee: Ashley Klein
Crowd: 25,628 (sellout and ground record)
Man of the Match: Cameron Smith
2013 ANZAC Test teams
Australian Squad:
1 Billy Slater
2 Darius Boyd
3 Greg Inglis
4 Justin Hodges
5 Brett Morris
6 Johnathan Thurston
7 Cooper Cronk
8 Matt Scott
9 Cameron Smith (Capt)
10 James Tamou
11 Greg Bird
12 Sam Thaiday
13 Paul Gallen
Interchange
14 Kurt Gidley
15 Nate Myles
16 Luke Lewis
17 Anthony Watmough
New Zealand Squad:
1 Josh Hoffman
2 Sam Perrett
3 Shaun Kenny-Dowall
4 Dean Whare
5 Jason Nightingale
6 Keiran Foran (capt)
7 Shaun Johnson
8 Jesse Bromwich
9 Isaac Luke
10 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
11 Frank Pritchard
12 Kevin Proctor
13 Alex Glenn
Interchange
14 Elijah Taylor
15 Sam McKendry
16 Ben Matulino
17 Tohu Harris
