England flattered to deceive in Newcastle as they let a 24-8 half-time lead slip away. The omens appeared in the first half as soft tries and penalties were conceded. But certainly the attack was firing. In the second period the Kiwi’s simply destroyed the England defence as nothing went right for the men in white and the men in black ran out convincing winners:
England 24 New Zealand 36
Scorers
England
Tries: Higham, Burrow 2, Gleeson, Goals: Purdham 4
New Zealand
Tries: Vatuvei 4, Hohaia, Nightingale Goals: Luke 3, Smith
Teams
England: P Wellens (St Helens); M Calderwood (Wigan), P Sykes (Bradford), K Senior (Leeds), L Smith (Leeds); M Gleeson (Warrington), R Burrow (Leeds); A Morley (Warrington), M Higham (Wigan), J Peacock (Leeds, capt), J Jones-Buchanan (Leeds), G Ellis (Leeds), R Purdham (Harlequins).
Replacements: K Sinfield (Leeds), G Hock (Wigan), B Westwood (Warrington), J Langley (Bradford).
New Zealand: L Hohaia (NZ Warriors); J Nightingale (St George Illawarra), S Matai (Manly), J Ropati (NZ Warriors), M Vatuvei (NZ Warriors); B Marshall (Wests Tigers, capt), T Leuluai (Wigan); A Blair (Melbourne), N Fien (NZ Warriors), E Tuimavave (NZ Warriors), S Mannering (NZ Warriors), D Fa’logo(South Sydney), J Smith (Melbourne).
Replacements: I Luke (South Sydney), G Eastwood (Brisbane), B Harrison (Wests Tigers), D Kidwell (South Sydney).
Referee: Tony Archer (Australia).