Rugby13: Rugby League » four nations

Kiwis win in last minute drama – Australia 12-16 New Zealand

ebbs — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 08:41:09 +0000

A last-minute try from Nathan Fien gave New Zealand a dramatic victory over Australia in the Four Nations final in Brisbane. The Kiwis trailed for much of the game, and were 12-6 behind with 10 minutes to go before tries from Jason Nightingale and Fien turned the match on its head.

Brent Tate’s try had given Australia an early lead, but Shaun Kenny-Dowall brought it level late in the first half. 6-6 half-time.

Billy Slater’s try looked to have won it for Australia before the late Kiwi revival and Nightingale and Fien’s tries.

Following the Kangaroos’ 34-20 victory over the Kiwis a week ago, few had given Stephen Kearney’s side much hope of repeating their 2008 World Cup final success or 2005 Tri-Nations triumph over the same opponents. However, a determined New Zealand side, coupled with injuries reducing Australia to only two replacements for the entirety of the second half enabled them to achieve a superb victory.
Final score:

Australia 12-16 New Zealand

Scorers

Australia
Tries: Tate, Slater Goals: Smith 2

New Zealand
Tries: Kenny-Dowall, Nightingale, Fien Goals: Marshall 2

Teams

Australia: Slater, Morris, Tate, Tonga, Tuqiri, Lockyer, Cronk, Scott, Smith, Shillington, Lewis, Thaiday, Gallen.
Replacements: Learoyd-Lahrs, Bird, Gidley, Myles.

New Zealand: Hohaia, Nightingale, Kenny-Dowall, Mannering, Perrett, Marshall, Fien, McKendry, Leuluai, Blair, Harrison, Matulino, Smith.
Replacements: Eastwood, Luke, Nuuausala, Manu.

Bragging rights to Australia – New Zealand 20-34 Australia

ebbs — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 20:39:57 +0000

Even though Australia rested several big names they still had enough to take the victory over New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland in a preview of next weekend’s Four Nations final.

Early tries by Cooper Cronk, Brett Morris and Brent Tate put the visitors 18-2 up before Frank Pritchard pulled a try back to give us the half-time score of 10-18.

Further tries by Darius Boyd, Morris and Chris Lawrence put Australia in total control of the match. But late tries by Jason Nightingale and Shaun Kenny-Dowall restored Kiwi pride and made the contest look more even. Final score:

New Zealand 20-34 Australia

Scorers

New Zealand
Tries: Pritchard, Nightingale, Kenny-Dowall Goals: Marshall (4)

Australia
Tries: Boyd, Lawrence, Morris (2), Cronk, Tate Goals: Carney (2), Smith (3)

Teams

New Zealand: Lance Hohaia, Jason Nightingale, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Junior Sa’u, Sam Perrett, Benji Marshall (cpt), Nathan Fien, Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Thomas Leuluai, Adam Blair, Sika Manu, Simon Mannering, Jeremy Smith.
Subs: Issac Luke, Greg Eastwood, Frank Pritchard, Ben Matulino, Bronson Harrison.

Australia: Darius Boyd, Brett Morris, Brent Tate, Chris Lawrence, Lote Tuqiri, Todd Carney, Cooper Cronk, Matthew Scott, Cameron Smith (cpt), David Shillington, Greg Bird, Sam Thaiday, Paul Gallen.
Subs: Dean Young, Petero Civoniceva, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Robbie Farah, Kurt Gidley.

Unconvincing England win – England 36-10 Papua New Guinea

ebbs — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 19:43:10 +0000

Tony Clubb was the highlight of an unconvincing win for England as he went in for a first-half hat-trick to spare England’s blushes against Papua New Guinea in their final Four Nations game.

Tony Clubb

The Harlequins centre’s treble, plus two from Huddersfield’s Luke Robinson, put England 24-0 up at half-time.

But England failed to build on the lead and Makali Aizue and Menzie Yere pulled tries back for Papua New Guinea. Clubb added his fourth of the match late on as Steve McNamara’s team avoided the tournament wooden spoon. Final score:

England 36-10 Papua New Guinea

Scorers

England
Tries: Robinson (2), Clubb (4), Harrison Goals: Westwood (3), Widdop

Papua New Guinea
Tries: Aizue, Yere Goals: Aiye

Teams

England: S Tomkins (Wigan); R Hall (Leeds), L Cudjoe (Huddersfield), T Clubb (Harlequins), T Briscoe (Hull); K Brown (Huddersfield), L Robinson (Huddersfield), J Graham (St Helens, capt), J Roby (St Helens), S Burgess (South Sydney), G Ellis (Wests Tigers), B Westwood (Warrington), S O’Loughlin (Wigan).
Subs: D Griffin (Huddersfield), G Carvell (Warrington), B Harrison (Warrington), G Widdop (Melbourne).

Papua New Guinea: Ryan Tongia; Michael Mark, Jessie Joe Parker; Menzie Yere; Elijah Riyong; Glen Nami, Dion Aiye; Makali Aizue, Charlie Wabo, James Nightingale, Rodney Griffin, David Loko, Paul Aiton (capt).
Subs (from): Benjamin John, Rodney Pora, Pidi Tongap, Nickson Kolo, George Moni, Richard Kambo, Johnson Kuike.

England v Papua New Guinea Teams

ebbs — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:50:52 +0000

England have made seven changes for the Four Nations match against Papua New Guinea in Auckland, with Harlequins centre Tony Clubb and Warrington prop Garreth Carvell makeing their first appearances of the tour. Whilst there are recalls for Ryan Hall of Leeds, Melbourne’s Gareth Widdop and Huddersfield duo Kevin Brown and Darrell Griffin.

Wigan skipper Sean O’Loughlin switches from stand-off to his more familiar loose forward position to make way for an all-Huddersfield half-back partnership of Brown and Luke Robinson.

All five English-based Kumuls have been named by coach Stanley Gene in his starting line-up, including hard-tackling Sheffield Eagles centre Menzie Yere.

The Papua New Guinea three-quarter line also features Wakefield-bound Jessie Joe Parker and Hunslet winger Michael Mark, while Hunslet hooker Charlie Wabo lines up in the front row alongside Halifax’s ex-Hull KR prop Makali Aizue.

PNG captain Paul Aiton said: (quote) They are looking forward to this match,they know a lot of the England guys. (end quote )

Teams

Fixture

Four Nations Saturday 6 November England v Papua New Guinea at Eden Park, Auckland Kick-off 0500 GMT Coverage: Live Sky Sports 1.

Unforced Errors Do For England – Australia 34-14 England

ebbs — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 10:03:30 +0000

England were knocked out of the Four Nations tournament after a six-try defeat to Australia in Melbourne on Sunday. Though they did have some justification in feeling a couple of those should not have been with a knock-on in goal for one and a forward pass for another.

Australia took the lead on 6 minutes thanks to sloppy defence allowing Luke Lewis to touch down and Cameron smith add the extras. Then on 9 minutes England levelled the scores as Sam Burgess touched down. 6 minutes later England had a penalty and Ben Westwood converted 6-8. The lead was short lived as the Aussies went over on 18, 22, 29 and 32 minutes through Luke Lewis, Billy Slater, Brent Tate and Willie Tonga with Cameron Smith converting two of them to give us the half time score of 26-8.

The second period and England needed to score first and this they did on 43 minutes through Luke Robinson, Cudjoe adding the extras 26-14. That was as good as it got as the Aussies closed the game out through Lote Tuqiri on 46 minutes with Cameron smith adding the extras and then a controversial penalty on 59 minutes to give us the final score of:

Australia 34-14 England

Scorers

Australia: Tries: Lewis 2, Slater, Tate, Tonga, Tuqiri Goals: Smith (4) Pens: Smith
England : Tries: Burgess, Robinson Goals: Westwood, Cudjoe Pens: Westwood

Teams

Australia: B Slater (Melbourne); B Morris (St George Illawarra), B Tate (NZ Warriors), W Tonga (North Queensland), L Tuqiri (Wests Tigers); D Lockyer (Brisbane, capt), C Cronk (Melbourne); N Myles (Sydney Roosters), C Smith (Melbourne), P Civoniceva (Penrith), L Lewis (Penrith), S Thaiday (Brisbane), P Gallen (Cronulla).
Subs: D Shillington (Canberra), T Learoyd-Lars (Canberra), A Watmough (Manly), K Gidley (Newcastle).

England: S Tomkins (Wigan); D Goulding (Wigan), L Cudjoe (Huddersfield), R Atkins (Warrington), T Briscoe (Hull); S O’Loughlin (Wigan), L Robinson(Huddersfield); J Graham (St Helens, capt), J Roby (St Helens), S Burgess (South Sydney), G Ellis (Wests Tigers), J Tomkins (Wigan), B Westwood (Warrington).
Subs: S Lunt (Huddersfield), S Fielden (Wigan), E Crabtree (Huddersfield), B Harrison (Warrington).

Attendance: 18,000+

Referee: T Archer (Australia).

New Zealand destroy Papua New Guinea NZ 76-12 PNG

ebbs — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 06:10:57 +0000

New Zealand top the Four Nations table after a simple win over an outclassed Papua New Guinea.

New Zealand dominated the first half in Rotorua, running in eight tries to lead 46-0 at half time. The second period and the Kumuls managed two converted tries through Menzie Yere and Glen Nami, Tongia adding the extras. But New Zealand restored their control and three-quarters Junior Sa’u and Sam Perrett both completed hat-tricks as the home side took their try count to 14 and moved a step nearer the final.

Stephen Kearney said: (quote) It was a good result,our forwards were outstanding and the wingers were strong. It was a pretty solid effort. We were a bit disappointed last week and I think we’ve taken some steps to improving. there are still some things we need to work on for next week.(end quote)

Final score:

New Zealand 76-12 Papua New Guinea

Scorers

New Zealand
Tries: Perrett (3), Mannering, Smith (2), Sa’u (3), Hohaia, Waerea-Hargreaves, Luke, Nightingale, Manu. Goals: Marshall (8), Luke (2)
PNG:
Tries: Yere, Nami. Goals: Tongia (2)

Teams

New Zealand: Hohaia, Nightingale, Kenny-Dowall, Sa’u, Perrett, Marshall, Fien, McKendry, Leuluai, Nuuausala, Manu, Mannering, Smith.
Replacements: Luke, Waerea-Hargreaves, Harrison, Eastwood.

Papua New Guinea: Tongia, Mark, Parker, Yere, Riyong, Nami, Aiye, Aizue, Wabo, Nightingale, Griffin, Kuike, Aiton.
Replacements: John, Pora, Tongap, Kolo.

Referee: Ben Cummins (AUS)

Australia v England Teams for 31 Oct

ebbs — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 07:35:31 +0000

Australia coach Tim Sheens has selected an unchanged side for the game after the Kangaroos beat Papua New Guinea 42-0 last weekend. Second rower Anthony Watmough and centre Brent Tate have overcome groin and neck injuries while St George Illawarra pair Dean Young and Darius Boyd have been added to an extended bench.

England will field three new caps against Australia in Sunday’s Four Nations game in Melbourne. Huddersfields Shaun Lunt and Leroy Cudjoe and Warrington’s Ben Harrison all come in after last weekend’s 24-10 loss to New Zealand.

Shaun Lunt

Leroy Cudjoe

Ben Harrison

Full-back Gareth Widdop and stand-off Kevin Brown are dropped, while centre Michael Shenton is unavailable. Sam Tomkins is named at full-back with Wigan team-mate Sean O’Loughlin at stand-off and Sam Burgess at prop.

Luke Robinson gets his first full cap at scrum-half after being on the bench last week while his Huddersfield team-mate Eorl Crabtree replaces another Giants prop Darrell Griffin on the bench.

Teams

England: S Tomkins (Wigan); D Goulding (Wigan), L Cudjoe (Huddersfield), R Atkins (Warrington), T Briscoe (Hull); S O’Loughlin (Wigan), L Robinson(Huddersfield); J Graham (St Helens, capt), J Roby (St Helens), S Burgess (South Sydney), G Ellis (Wests Tigers), J Tomkins (Wigan), B Westwood (Warrington).
Subs: S Lunt (Huddersfield), S Fielden (Wigan), E Crabtree (Huddersfield), B Harrison (Warrington).

Australia: B Slater (Melbourne); B Morris (St George Illawarra), B Tate (NZ Warriors), W Tonga (North Queensland), L Tuqiri (Wests Tigers); D Lockyer (Brisbane, capt), C Cronk (Melbourne); N Myles (Sydney Roosters), C Smith (Melbourne), P Civoniceva (Penrith), L Lewis (Penrith), S Thaiday (Brisbane), P Gallen (Cronulla).
Subs: D Shillington (Canberra), T Learoyd-Lars (Canberra), A Watmough (Manly), K Gidley (Newcastle).

Fixture

Four Nations – Australia v England
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne Sunday 31 October Time: 0745 GMT Live coverage Sky Sports 1

Australia simple win – Australia 42-0 Papua New Guinea

ebbs — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 08:29:56 +0000

Australia looked awesome in defence but never really had to show their full attacking capabilities as Papua New Guinea fell off tackles, dropped balls or handed tries to the Kangaroos.

Australia were on the board as soon as the 5th minute as Billy Slater dotted down and Cameron Smith added the extras 6-0. The Roos then scored on 14 minutes Brent Tate, 17 minutes Cooper Cronk, 23 minutes Willie Tonga and 25 minutes Brett Morris, most were out wide and Smith only converted 2 giving us the half time score of 26-0.

The second period and PNG improved their defence which meant the kept the Kangaroos out until the 55th minute when Cameron Smith went over adding the extras 32-0. Shortly after Darren Lockyer went over with Smith converting 38-0 61 minutes. PNG managed a couple of sorties into the Australia half but got no change from them and it was Australia who ended the game on a high as Willie Tonga got his second try on 76 minutes and we had the final score of:

Australia 42-0 Papua New Guinea

Scorers

Australia
Tries: Slater, Tate, Cronk, Tonga (2), Morris, Smith, Lockyer Goals: Smith (5)

Papua New Guinea

Australia: Slater, Morris, Tate, Tonga, Tuqiri, Lockyer, Cronk, Myles, Smith, Civoniceva, Lewis, Thaiday, P. Gallen, P. Gallen. Replacements: Shillington, Learoyd-Lahrs, Watmough, Gidley.

Papua New Guinea: Tongia, Mark, Parker, Yere, Riyong, Nami, Aiye, Aizue, Wabo, Griffin, Loko, Aiton, Moni. Replacements: John, Kolo, Marabe, Pombo.

Referee: Shane Rehm (New Zealand)

Kiwis win Four Nations opener – New Zealand 24-10 England

ebbs — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 10:16:29 +0000

England were blown away by a power play and subtle play first 40 by the World Champion Kiwi team.

The writing was on the wall as early as the 3rd minute as Junior Sa’u dived over out wide to finish a sweeping move. Benji Marshall could not add the extras 4-0. England chances were few as they struggled to get into the Kiwi half and on 14 minutes Benji Marshall had an easy penalty to extend the lead to 6-0. It then took until 35 minutes for New Zealand to go over again as Lance Hohaia scored under the sticks making the extras easy for Marshall 12-0 and half time.

The second period and the game looked dead and buried for England as the New Zealand lead was extended on just 43 minutes when Shaun Kenny-Dowall went over with Marshall adding the extras 18-0. Amazingly this seemed to galvanise England and they started to get plays into the New Zealand half. These produced results at last on 55 minutes with James Roby going over and Gareth Widdop adding the extras 18-6. Right from the restart England capitalised on a Kiwi error and Widdop went over on 57 minutes but could not add the extras 18-10 and game on. England continued to press but were running out of steam after the tremendous tackle count and so it was New Zealand who upped the pace and powered into the last twenty minutes scoring the last touch down on 66 minutes with yet another clever play from Benji Marshall who added the extras to put the game out of Englands reach. Final score:

New Zealand 24-10 England

Scorers

New Zealand
Tries: Sa’u, Hohaia, Kenny-Dowall, Marshall Goals: Marshall (4)
England
Tries: Roby, Widdop Goals: Widdop

Teams

New Zealand: L Hohia (Warriors); J Nightingale (St George Illawarra), S Kenny-Dowall (Sydney oosters), J Sa’u (Newcastle), M Vatuvei (Warriors); B Marshall (Wests Tiger, capt), N Fien (St George Illawarra); G Eastwood (Leeds), T Leuluai (Wigan), A Blair (Melbourne), S Mannering (Warriors), B Harrison (Canberra), J Smith (St George Illawarra).
Subs: B Matulino (Warriors), I Luke (South Sydney), F Pritchard (Penrith), F-P Nuaasalia (Sydney Roosters).

England: Widdop (Melbourne); Goulding (Wigan) Shenton (Castelford) Atkins (Warrinton) Briscoe (Hull); Brown (Huddersfield), S Tomkins (Wigan); Graham (St Helens, capt) Roby (St Helens), Fielden (Wigan), Burgess (South Sydney) Ellis (Wests Tigers) O’Loughlin (Wigan).
Interchange: Griffin (Huddersfield) Westwood (Warrington) J Tomkins (Wigan) Robinson (Huddersfield)

New Zealand and England Teams for Four Nations

ebbs — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:23:48 +0000

Four Nations New Zealand v England Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington Date: Sat, 23 October Kick-off: 0800 BST Live coverage on BBC One.

Wigan’s Thomas Leuluai has been chosen to start at hooker for New Zealand against England. He has lost the scrum-half jersey to Nathan Fien but has been preferred to Issac Luke at hooker. Wests Tigers Benji Marshall captains New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium and he will partner Fien in the halves.

England stand-off Sam Tomkins has been passed fit to play in Saturday’s Four Nations opener against New Zealand. Tomkins had been an injury doubt after damaging his pelvis in the warm-up game against the New Zealand Maori but he will partner Kevin Brown in the halves, at the same time his Wigan team-mate Darrell Goulding is set to make his international début. In the forwards, new skipper James Graham and Stuart Fielden, “returning to the international stage for the first time in four years”, are at at prop.

Teams

New Zealand: L Hohia (Warriors); J Nightingale (St George Illawarra), S Kenny-Dowall (Sydney oosters), J Sa’u (Newcastle), M Vatuvei (Warriors); B Marshall (Wests Tiger, capt), N Fien (St George Illawarra); G Eastwood (Leeds), T Leuluai (Wigan), A Blair (Melbourne), S Mannering (Warriors), B Harrison (Canberra), J Smith (St George Illawarra).
Subs: B Matulino (Warriors), I Luke (South Sydney), F Pritchard (Penrith), F-P Nuaasalia (Sydney Roosters).

England: Widdop (Melbourne); Goulding (Wigan) Shenton (Castelford) Atkins (Warrinton) Briscoe (Hull); Brown (Huddersfield), S Tomkins (Wigan); Graham (St Helens, capt) Roby (St Helens), Fielden (Wigan), Burgess (South Sydney) Ellis (Wests Tigers) O’Loughlin (Wigan).
Interchange: Griffin (Huddersfield) Westwood (Warrington) J Tomkins (Wigan) Robinson (Huddersfield)