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Australia VS New Zealand
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[QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2980740, member: 1899"] Couldn't have asked more from New Zealand. They controlled possession brilliantly and their interchange of passing put the Australian defence under sustained pressure. I don't think I've seen a team earn so many repeat sets through their passing game before. It was a testament to their ability to engage the defence, time the pass and present structures that gave their ball carriers options. Defensively their forwards aimed up and pulled a Roosters on Melbourne. The Australian backs had their work cut out for them and they struggled to win the play the ball coming out of trouble. If you were a New Zealand fan, you'd have to be ecstatic with the performances of Watene-Zelezniak, Smith & Manu. Everybody knows what Johnson is capable of, but for years he's had to play the lone hand. The emergence of DWZ, Smith & Manu on the world stage was one of the most pleasing things and if they can maintain that standard, NZRL won't be in the doldrums for long. The game was there to be won for the Australians inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half. That try to Gagai right on half-time should have been a pivotal moment, but Australia struggled to put New Zealand away. There were a few factors that stood out to me. When you're in the position Australia found themselves in when they were forced to defend set after set and finally had some football, it's important to make the most of it. That's where they needed to bring Klemmer & McLean back onto the field to win that middle for Australia and give their halves more time. Having Woods, Trbojevic and Frizell all on the field at the same time made it easy for the New Zealand defence. As an aside, I was stunned Frizell didn't come on for Kaufusi. Felise was heavily targeted in defence and barely had any petrol in attack. Under Bellamy's structures, Kaufusi is one of the most potent backrows in the game but for pure ability, I was surprised Mal resisted the urge to play Frizell. The other was the general lack of direction. If you look at a player like Cameron Smith, what he does incredibly well is get the ball into positions where the halves can attack from. With Cook, the Australians rarely found themselves in those positions and it made their attack much easier to read. That had a flow-on effect to the halves who appeared lost and out of ideas. Hunt was utterly uncomfortable on the left-hand edge and didn't want to know about Cordner, Mitchell or Holmes despite them being the Kangaroos most potent option. Cherry-Evans had the luxury of playing on his preferred side but outside of the lead-up work to the Gagai try didn't offer much guidance. Sure, he played a role in the Kaufusi try that gave the Kangaroos a chance but it was a fortunate ricochet than any individual piece of brilliance. Despite all the issues, Australia only lost by two points. I thought there were a lot of positives to take out of the performance, particularly in defence. Despite having a mixed evening, I thought Mitchell produced some wonderful pieces of play and I'd be extremely surprised if he doesn't go onto have a long and prosperous career in the green and gold. That set-up for the James Tedesco try was unbelievable play from him and Valentine. Everybody saw it coming and there was nothing New Zealand could do. Brilliant. Australia can take a lot out of that performance and I can't wait to see how they play against Tonga. [/QUOTE]
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