Kiwis edged by Kangaroos in World Cup opener
New Zealand have lost their opening encounter of the Rugby League World Cup - and perhaps star recruit Kayln Ponga for the rest of the tournament – slipping to a 24-22 defeat against archrivals and defending champions Australian in Sydney.
Debutant wing Jack Bostock had a hattrick of tries for the Kangaroos and Ponga had a double in his first outing for the Kiwis, before he was forced off the field with a suspected broken arm.
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New Zealand enjoyed much of the momentum throughout the meeting, but were ultimately undone by three length-of-the-field efforts – two intercepts and an outrageous counterattack from Aussie fullback Reece Walsh.
Both teams lined up as named earlier in the week, with Kiwis debuts for Ponga and centre Dane Gagai the biggest talking point for New Zealand.
Centre Casey McLean opened the scoring, when wing Ronaldo Mulitalo chased a high kick from halfback Jahrome Hughes, deflecting it to second-rower Isaiah Papali’I, who offloaded to his Penrith clubmate.
McLean barely forced the ball inside the cornerflag for the try, but his celebrations were muted, as he clutched his shoulder. He returned to position and stayed in the game, as wing Jamayne Isaako converted from the left sideline.
New Zealand almost stretched their advantage, when Australian half Cam Munster was penalised for a high tackle on Isaako inside his redzone. From the ensuing set, wing Ronaldo Mulitalo chased another Hughes kick, but knocked on over the tryline.
Midway through the first half, Australia answered, when Hughes tried to float a long pass to Isaako and it was picked off by Bostock, who ran 90 metres to score. Halfback and first-choice goalkicker Mitch Moses suffered an injury in the build-up, and Walsh hit the upright with the conversion attempt.
Isaako slotted a penalty from in front, after the Kiwis forced a goal-line dropout and Walsh drilled his incontestable kick straight over the sideline.
Hughes continued to torment the Kangaroos with his last-play kicking mastery, while coach Stacey Jones had the luxury of bringing Dally M forwards Naufahu Whyte and Erin Clark off the bench to spell his starting middles.
For all their dominance, the Kiwis margin was only four points and that vanished altogether, when they shifted left and McLean’s final pass to Mulitalo was snatched up by Aussie wing Tommy Trbojevic, who had too much speed for his pursuers. This time, Walsh snuck his conversion inside the post for the lead.
Moments later, centre Katoni Staggs chased an audacious outside-foot kick from Moses and barely knocked on. Down the other end, Ponga split the Australian defence and set sail for the corner, but was dragged into touch by counterpart Walsh.
The Kangaroos were reduced to 12 men, after Staggs blatantly impeded five-eighth Kodi Nikorima, as he chased another Hughes grubber kick to the tryline. Referee Adam Gee ruled out a penalty try, but Isaako slotted the penalty to draw level 10-10 before the break.
New Zealand dominated stats at halftime, with 59% of possession and 80% set completion, and a clear advantage in running and post-contact metres. Australia had stayed in the game through two opportunist plays.
Already down on numbers, the Kangaroos lost Moses seconds into the second half with a calf injury, replaced by Tom Dearden.
The Kiwis needed to take toll of their numerical edge and had their chance, when the Aussies were caught offside inside their redzone. With Staggs pacing the sideline, preparing to return, New Zealand simply kept the ball alive from one side of the field to the other, with Papali’i again providing the final pass for Ponga to score his first try for his country.
They barely survived Australia’s next raid, with Papali’i defusing a Munster bomb in the goal area, but were immediately under the pump again, when forward Xavier Willison spilt the ball in a tackle. In the backfield, Ponga was struggling with an arm injury, after colliding with Munster’s head in a tackle.
Hughes unleashed an innocuous-looking centring kick from deep inside his own half, but the awkward bounce forced a knock-on from Trbojevic and McLean swooped to send Mulitalo away for a try that was disallowed, when Papali’i was ruled offside in his chase.
With the next possession, Bostock soared above Dolphins teammate Isaako to claim a high kick from Munster and score his second. Walsh’s conversion brought Australia level again.
Within moments, Ponga shrugged off his discomfort and loomed out right, where he received a pass from Clark, wrongfooted his markers and streaked away for his second try, converted by Isaako.
Inspirational Kiwis skipper James Fisher-Harris put his team under pressure, when he knocked on, while playing the ball, but when the Aussies shifted left, Walsh was guilty of a double movement in Hughes’ tackle, as he clawed his way to the line.
He made no mistake though, when he broke from deep inside his half, swerved past Ponga and Hughes, who collided in midfield, and raced away to score another length-of-the-field try.
As Walsh struggled to recover from his exertion, centre Lattrell Mitchell missed the conversion and New Zealand still led with less than 10 minutes remaining, but Ponga finally succumbed to his injury, with Keano Kini entering the contest.
The Kiwis could not capitalise on their next possession, with Hughes producing probably his worst kick of the night to concede a seven-tackle set. Australia went deep and Bostock again beat Isaako for a Munster kick to put his team ahead.
Walsh again put his conversion off the post and the Kiwis trailled by two with three minutes to go.
Trbojevic claimed the short kickoff and, by the time they regained possession, New Zealand needed to go length of the field. They made it as far as the Australia 30, but Kini played the ball to no-one and the Kangaroos survived.
As the final seconds counted down, the Kiwis had one more shot at stealing victory, but they could not gather Nikorima’s kick ahead on halfway and the game ended before they could set an attacking scrum in the Kangaroos half.
New Zealand must now regroup, before meeting Cook Islands in Christchurch on October 25, while Australia next face Fiji later that same day.
Australia 24 (Bostock 3, Trbojevic & Walsh tries; Walsh 2 conversions) NZ 22 (Ponga 2 & McLean tries; Isaako 3 conversions & 2 penalties)
