New Zealand 24 England 10: Second-half fightback not enough for England in Four Nations opener
England head for Melbourne and a must-win showdown with favourites Australia if they are to have any hope of reaching the final of rugby league’s Four Nations tournament.
The omens are hardly encouraging. England suffered their heaviest and most embarrassing World Cup defeat when they were hammered 52-4 by the Kangaroos in Melbourne two years ago.
So what lies in wait this time for a new-look, injury-hit England squad predictably beaten in Wellington yesterday? A combination of Kiwi muscle, the magic of New Zealand stand-off and captain Benji Marshall and a host of handling errors and missed tackles were central to the loss.
When New Zealand, the World Cup holders, opened an 18-0 lead three minutes after the interval, England’s travelling fans must have feared the worst.
Instead, they saw England threaten a major upset by scoring back-to-back tries and having a third controversially disallowed before Marshall finally blew them away.
Skipper James Graham, the barnstorming St Helens prop, offered plenty of defiance, saying: ‘The easy option is to roll over against the Aussies, go home and have a holiday. But we have got to keep fighting.
‘This is a young team but that is no excuse for getting beaten. We are all internationals and most of us have played in big games. You can’t afford to give a team of the quality of the Kiwis 18 points start.’
The crucial moment was when Huddersfield half-back Kevin Brown chased a bouncing kick by Wigan’s Sam Tomkins, managed to get downward pressure with his outstretched right hand but was judged to have pushed Kiwi prop Greg Eastwood to get to the ball.
Brown said: ‘I was disappointed with the decision because I had got the ball down and thought that was the main thing. It is hard to stop dead when you are running.’
England then found themselves 24-10 down after Marshall’s mesmeric run — swapping passes with Jason Nightingale before touching down one-handed then converting from the touchline.
Earlier, when the Kiwis had England on the rack, Marshall had set up New Zealand’s second try for full-back Lance Hohaia and their third for centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall. Centre Junior Sau finished off a stunning move to set the scoreboard rolling.
England, wearing red-and-white hoops on the centenary of the first New Zealand v England Test, could not come to terms with the power of the Kiwi side and made error after error.
They had 33 missed tackles but scored two quick tries through hooker James Roby, from his own kick, and Gareth Widdop, after splendid work by Michael Shenton and Brown.
Coach Steve McNamara said: ‘We got caught a bit cold at the start and it cost us. We feel we can do a whole lot better and we are not disheartened.
‘We have three matches in this competition and we just need to win next week.’
The omens are hardly encouraging. England suffered their heaviest and most embarrassing World Cup defeat when they were hammered 52-4 by the Kangaroos in Melbourne two years ago.
So what lies in wait this time for a new-look, injury-hit England squad predictably beaten in Wellington yesterday? A combination of Kiwi muscle, the magic of New Zealand stand-off and captain Benji Marshall and a host of handling errors and missed tackles were central to the loss.
Fightback begins: Gareth Widdop of England scores a try under pressure from Lance Hohaia
Instead, they saw England threaten a major upset by scoring back-to-back tries and having a third controversially disallowed before Marshall finally blew them away.
Skipper James Graham, the barnstorming St Helens prop, offered plenty of defiance, saying: ‘The easy option is to roll over against the Aussies, go home and have a holiday. But we have got to keep fighting.
BAD BREAK FOR MANU
New Zealand winger Manu Vatuvei will miss the rest of the Four Nations Series after it was confirmed he broke an arm in today's opening 24-10 win over England. The New Zealand Warrior sustained the injury after just two minutes while making a tackle on centre Michael Shenton and will be replaced by Sam Perrett for next week's game against Papua New Guinea in Rotorua.
The crucial moment was when Huddersfield half-back Kevin Brown chased a bouncing kick by Wigan’s Sam Tomkins, managed to get downward pressure with his outstretched right hand but was judged to have pushed Kiwi prop Greg Eastwood to get to the ball.
Brown said: ‘I was disappointed with the decision because I had got the ball down and thought that was the main thing. It is hard to stop dead when you are running.’
England then found themselves 24-10 down after Marshall’s mesmeric run — swapping passes with Jason Nightingale before touching down one-handed then converting from the touchline.
Earlier, when the Kiwis had England on the rack, Marshall had set up New Zealand’s second try for full-back Lance Hohaia and their third for centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall. Centre Junior Sau finished off a stunning move to set the scoreboard rolling.
Key score: New Zealand's Lance Hohaia goes over ahead of England's Ryan Atkins
They had 33 missed tackles but scored two quick tries through hooker James Roby, from his own kick, and Gareth Widdop, after splendid work by Michael Shenton and Brown.
Coach Steve McNamara said: ‘We got caught a bit cold at the start and it cost us. We feel we can do a whole lot better and we are not disheartened.
‘We have three matches in this competition and we just need to win next week.’
No comments:
Post a Comment