The Kangaroos dominance of the Anzac Test continued as they eventually ran out comfortable winners 20-10 at Skilled Park in Robina on Friday night.
The Aussies opened the scoring as early as the third minute as a Darren Lockyer bomb was not controlled by the Kiwis and Billy Slater took advantage and dotted down. Johnathan Thurston adding the extras. The Kangaroos took until the 20th minute to add to their score as new boy Jharal Yow Yeh ran in to make it 10-0. It looked like this would be the score at the break, but the Kiwis strung a move together and Matthew Duffie went in out wide with Benji Marshall adding the extras 10-6 and half-time.
The second period and there was plenty to watch, but neither side could make a breakthrough and so it was until the 69 minute before the Roos could extend their lead. The Kiwis were making loads of unforced errors and at last Billy Slater capitalised and with Thurston converting extended the lead to 16-6. 71 minutes and the final score for the Roos was posted by Jamal Idris taking us to 20-6. But it was the Kiwis who would have a consolation score on the hooter as Lance Hohaia touched down to give us the final score of:
Australia 20-10 New Zealand
Scorers
Kangaroos:
Tries; Billy Slater 2, Jharal Yow Yeh, Jamal Idris
Cons; Johnathan Thurston 2
Kiwis:
Tries; Matthew Duffie, Lance Hohaia
Cons; Benji Marshall
Teams
Australia: Billy Slater, Brett Morris, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Jharal Yow Yeh, Darren Lockyer (C), Johnathan Thurston, Petero Civoniceva, Cameron Smith, Matt Scott, Ben Creagh, Sam Thaiday, Paul Gallen.
Bench: Cooper Cronk, Ben Hannant, Jamal Idris, David Shillington.
New Zealand: Lance Hohaia; Jason Nightingale, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Simon Mannering, Matthew Duffie; Benji Marshall (c), Kieran Foran; Sam Rapira, Nathan Fien, Sam McKendry; Adam Blair, Bronson Harrison; Jeremy Smith.
Bench: Issac Luke, Ben Matulino, Fuifui Moimoi, Lewis Brown.
Referee: Richard Silverwood (England).
Crowd: 26,301.