Four Nations final: New Zealand v Australia – as it happened
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http://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2014/nov/15/four-nations-final-new-zealand-australia-live Version 0 of 1. 8.55pm AEST09:55 Well, that’s that. New Zealand are Four Nations champions and the crown fits them well. Thank you for your eyes and your emails. I’m off to watch Tequila Sunrise and lament my long lost youth. Cheerio! 8.53pm AEST09:53 So New Zealand win their second Four Nations crown, drawing level with Australia on the tally board. You can’t argue with their victory; they were undefeated in the tournament and tonight held the upper hand, thanks to the genius of Johnson, the strength of their forwards and some excellent finishing by Nightingale and Vatuvei. Australia will be hurting but they got so close with a young side and the experience will do them good in the years to come. Updated at 10.13pm AEST 8.47pm AEST09:47 Full-time: New Zealand 22-18 Australia And New Zealand see out the final moments to win the game and the tournament! What an amazing finish in a tournament that’s been full of them. 8.45pm AEST09:45 79 min: Wow! Australia keep it alive probing for an opening, then Jennings runs right, drawing in the defence. It goes through the hands and ends up with Mata’utia who dives for the corner. He jumps for joy but surely he was pushed into touch… but it doesn’t matter! The ref says the ball went forward somewhere in that frenetic passage and it’s a New Zealand ball! 8.42pm AEST09:42 78 min: Inglis softens up New Zealand with a big run and after five sets Australia have made 70-odd metres. A bomb is caught by New Zealand but there’s an offside penalty to Australia who are just 10m out! 8.41pm AEST09:41 CONVERSION! New Zealand 22-18 Australia (Smith) From the right touchline! Can Australia get out of jail here?! 8.40pm AEST09:40 TRY AUST! New Zealand 22-16 (Hunt 76) Australia keep their hopes alive after some hot potato football ends up in Dylan Walker’s hands and he issues a lovely flick pass to Mata’utia. The young winger is rounded up but he lobs a speculator inside and Hunt catches and scores! 8.38pm AEST09:38 75 min: Not sure why Inglis is left to kick the ball but he does so as brutally as he did earlier. This time it floats a long way out on the full. Not the right play with so little time left. New Zealand are ‘this’ close. 8.35pm AEST09:35 74 min: It’s wave after wave of black shirts as the Kiwis look to deliver the killer blow. But the Kangaroos bravely put their bodies in harm’s way. Finally they have the ball in hand and out of the danger zone. But they’ll be knackered after all that defence. Updated at 8.36pm AEST 8.33pm AEST09:33 73 min: Taumalolo charges like a ticket tout and bends the line and the Kiwis are only a metre out! But in passing from dummy half Luke’s arm is knocked and the Aussies pick up the ball. Updated at 8.36pm AEST 8.31pm AEST09:31 72 min: Australia hold New Zealand at bay but again the Kiwis force a drop out, Johnson’s grubber bunted dead by Inglis. 8.30pm AEST09:30 70 min: More pressure from New Zealand as Nightingale directs a gentle kick into the in-goal. His intention was to force a drop out, and that’s exactly what he achieved. 8.28pm AEST09:28 68 min: Jennings looks to benefit from a Cronk break but he lobs the ball inside as the touchline looms. Luke claims it and is crunched by Inglis. That would have snapped me in half but Luke gets up after a pat on the head from his Souths teammate. 8.26pm AEST09:26 64 min: Johnson hits the post again, this time from wide left, but it may not matter if New Zealand keep this up. 8.26pm AEST09:26 TRY NZ! New Zealand 22-12 Australia (Vatuvei 62) Johnson’s dagger try is complemented by a sledgehammer try! Inside Australia’s 30m Foran straightens the attack and the ball is floated into the arms of Vatuvei who draws a bead on Mata’utia and hits him with everything. He was never going to stop the Beast there. Updated at 9.07pm AEST 8.23pm AEST09:23 60 min: Johnson should have kicked that but it hit the upright. Heart beating too fast? 8.21pm AEST09:21 TRY NZ! New Zealand 18-12 Australia (Johnson 58) Johnson is lighting up this game! From 30m out Johnson shoots right and dummies to his outside. Cherry-Evans buys it and Johnson flies through the gap he made himself. He then performs an in-and-away on Inglis (on Inglis!) and cruises to the line. What a try! 8.17pm AEST09:17 56 min: The end-to-end stuff continues and now it’s Hiku catching an ice-bearing bomb to defuse a dangerous situation. Both teams are fighting to assert themselves here. Updated at 9.02pm AEST 8.15pm AEST09:15 53 min: Johnson jinks and swings right; spying a gap he accelerates through a hole and he looks a chance of running around the outside of Australia but Jennings pulls him down and drives him into touch. 8.13pm AEST09:13 51 min: An Inglis kick drops a couple of metres short of a 40/20. It was an agricultural hoof, really, but it nearly paid dividends. Moments later, Cronk knocks on from dummy half seconds after Mata’utia cannons into the posts when catching a kick. Great opportunity for New Zealand. 8.10pm AEST09:10 49 min: And it almost looked dumber as New Zealand attempted a couple of dangerous offloads when trying to get out of their in-goal. But a strip is called on Bird and New Zealand survive their own dalliance with dumb. 8.08pm AEST09:08 48 min: Cheap metres to Australia after a second effort tackle sees New Zealand penalised. Dumb play. 8.06pm AEST09:06 46 min: Play resumes and Australia end a strong set with a Cronk bomb that Vatuvei leaps high to claim. He can have hands like feet but so far so good. 8.05pm AEST09:05 45 min: They’ve shown that Aussie try again and it doesn’t appear Foran was impeded in any way by the decoy runner. If an error has been made it’s hardly an egregious one. Taupau is now being placed on a stretcher and carried off. Let’s hope he’s okay. He gives the thumbs up, so hopefully that’s a positive sign. 8.01pm AEST09:01 45 min: A slight injury break here as Martin Taupau (or T’pow! according to Ray Warren) is being treated after an innocuous tackle. Could be a knee injury, there was no foul play that I could see. Actually, now the trainers are steadying his neck, which is never good to see. 7.58pm AEST08:58 CONVERSION! New Zealand 14-12 Australia (Smith) Smith, reading the conditions like a mariner on the prow of a boat (the prow is the front, right?), lands it from touch! 7.57pm AEST08:57 TRY AUST! New Zealand 14-10 Australia (Mata'utia 41) Try it is! Andrew Johns says Cherry-Evans caught the ball behind the decoy runner which should rule the try out. But there it is, on the board, and that’s a perfect start to the half for Australia. 7.55pm AEST08:55 41 min: Plenty it seems! From midfield Smith shifts to Cronk who puts Cherry-Evans through a hole created by a decoy runner. Cherry-Evans runs to his winger and puts Mata’utia in. Slick! But it’s gone upstairs as the Nine crew agree there was an obstruction. I’m not so sure... 7.53pm AEST08:53 Peep! Johnson restarts play and Australia work it out from their own line. And there’s a nice bonus for the Aussies, a penalty for a high tackle by Lewis Brown. So a full set 35m out. What have the Kangaroos got? 7.51pm AEST08:51 And they are back on the pitch with Australia down by just 8 but it seems like more... 7.42pm AEST08:42 As I grab a moment here’s something different in this day and age. Here’s CW Stoneking, from Katherine in the Northern Territory. I used to see him getting about in the People’s Republic of Brunswick dressed like a cricketer from the 1930s. As dapper as can be. This is from a new album: 7.39pm AEST08:39 Half-time: New Zealand 14-6 Australia And the siren sounds with Inglis interrupting another Kiwi attack by picking up a kick near his own line. After Australia’s early charge and converted try it’s been all New Zealand. 7.36pm AEST08:36 39 min: Some more electric footy by the Kiwis, sparked by a lovely Johnson chip and chase. The ball then went inside and outside as the Kiwis backed up but the final pass was made to an Australian with the line looming. That could have been a killer blow in the shadows of the half-time break. 7.33pm AEST08:33 CONVERSION! New Zealand 14-6 Australia (Johnson) And that’s another touchline conversion by Johnson, this time from the left sideline. Decent player, that man. 7.32pm AEST08:32 TRY NZ! New Zealand 12-6 Australia (Vatuvei 35) Hold everything! A brilliant try to Vatuvei! Johnson caught the ball 10m to the right of the Aussie posts. He then spun out of one tackle, and produced three now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t steps that had the Aussies clutching at thin air. He then, as if that wasn’t enough, shot out a 30m pass to his big winger. It hit Vatuvei’s toes more or less but the big man caught it cleanly and dived over! Just brilliant! 7.27pm AEST08:27 32 min: Inglis bats a Foran kick dead while Phil Withall returns with a brilliant Christmas idea. He’s got the patent, by the way. It’s a new fragrance: “Mansour by Nightingale” (17th minute) has the ring of a splendid perfume,” he writes. “Can I ask you to use your considerable clout to make this wonderful thing happen.” I don’t even have clout in my own house, Phil. It’s yours my friend! 7.25pm AEST08:25 30 min: The Kiwis are on top now and have all the momentum. Johnson puts up another huge bomb but Mansour does well to catch this one. From the possession Cronk kicks out on the full. That Wellington wind is playing havoc. 7.23pm AEST08:23 PENALTY GOAL NZ! New Zealand 8-6 Australia (Johnson 28) Johnson. Ball. Black dot. 7.22pm AEST08:22 27 min: Almost another try to New Zealand! Mansour stands under a Foran bomb that swirls and dips, and he’s left leaning forward like a child wanting to jump in a pool but too scared to follow through. The ball bounces in front of him and then behind him but he recovers to knock it dead as the Kiwis charge. A penalty here to New Zealand and although they have the Aussies on the back foot they are opting for a shot at goal from right in front. 7.19pm AEST08:19 CONVERSION! New Zealand 6-6 Australia (Johnson) From the right touchline Johnson adds the extras. Sweet kick, bro! 7.18pm AEST08:18 TRY NZ! New Zealand 4-6 Australia (Nightingale 24) ... and the Dragon somersaults inside the corner flag to score! He’s a champion, Nightingale. Updated at 7.48pm AEST 7.17pm AEST08:17 23 min: Australia, defending, hammer NZ through Klemmer and Thaiday but on tackle three Kenny-Dowall runs 40m after palming off Cronk. He’s scythed down but from the resulting play some catch and pass footy finds Nightingale on the right wing... Updated at 7.39pm AEST 7.15pm AEST08:15 22 min: The Kiwis go right then left then right again but the Australia defence is far from stretched and the Kiwis are forced to grubber on the last, but Inglis cleans up with ease. Some excellent defence there. 7.13pm AEST08:13 20 min: Cherry-Evans holds Luke down and it’s a Kiwi penalty. Luke shoves Cherry-Evans and a brouhaha develops, Bird coming to the aid of the manly man. Sorry, the Manly man. The Kiwis just 10m out with a full set up their sleeve tatts! 7.11pm AEST08:11 19 min: The Kiwis put it through the hands and they appear to have the numbers but Jennings bats the ball down. Six again. 7.10pm AEST08:10 17 min: Australia threaten down the left flank and but for a judicious (brilliant) ankle tap on Mansour by Nightingale the Penrith man would have been in. And now the Kiwis earn a penalty, their first, and they are on the attack. 7.07pm AEST08:07 16 min: Vatuvei makes a charge! He’s like an armoured vehicle with windows made from cling film. Dangerous but flawed. 7.06pm AEST08:06 14 min: Johnson puts up a towering bomb that’s taken nicely by Inglis. Johnson is tackled is the air by Papalii but the ref missed it. Should have been a Kiwi penalty 20m out from the Australia line. 7.05pm AEST08:05 12 min: A curious game to date as both teams are making a lot of metres on their sets. If I can stop thinking about Michelle Pfeiffer I’ll look to see if the ref is playing a generous 10 metres. Now the Aussies find touch 10m out from the Kiwi line after another strong set. 7.03pm AEST08:03 CONVERSION! New Zealand 0-6 Australia (Smith) From 5m to the left of the posts Smith steers it over. 7.02pm AEST08:02 TRY! New Zealand 0-4 Australia (Jennings 11) And a try it is! Close to the posts, too. That was the culmination of an 80m set by Australia. Updated at 7.50pm AEST 7.00pm AEST08:00 10 min: Possible try to Jennings from a Cronk crossfield kick that was spilled by Whare and into Jennings who dived over. It looks good... 6.59pm AEST07:59 7 min: As Cronk boots the ball down Hiku’s throat James Galloway asks a good question. “When were you first haunted by Michelle Pfeiffer? It was when she first turned up in Scarface, for me. Not that I watched it when I was a child or anything.” Tequila Sunrise, James. Boy oh boy. As my mind wanders I look up to see Dylan Walker let a bomb go through his fingers leading to an Australia drop out. Actually, a replay has seen the ref change his mind. Walker missed it completely, so it’s an Aussie 20m tap. 6.55pm AEST07:55 6 min: Easy metres for Australia now and they go oh so close! Corey Parker charges onto a Smith pass and he’s over the line but Luke and Proctor hold him up. And that’s the last tackle so the Kiwis will get the ball. Great effort. 6.54pm AEST07:54 4 min: The Kiwis do well to roll down the other end and Australia do well to scrabble out of their in-goal after a Kiwi grubber when it looked like a drop-out was looming. Moments later Dylan Walker seems to have dropped the ball but a strip is called. 6.52pm AEST07:52 3 min: Mansour comes close to scoring inside the left post but Smith’s grubber bobbles over the in-goal touchline just before he grabbed it. 6.51pm AEST07:51 1 min: The pitch looks a picture as NZ get through their first set with Johnson ending it with a rather weak midfield bomb. The error is compounded by a holding down penalty and the Aussies are on the attack early on. 6.49pm AEST07:49 Peep! And we’re off, Cameron Smith kicking off with the Aussies running south, so they’ll get colder with every step. 6.47pm AEST07:47 Nearly there, folks. But first the haka, led by Adam Blair, with Issac Luke at the tip. I know I’ve mentioned this before my I am haunted by Issac Luke’s eyes, and I don’t mean in the way I was haunted, as a younger man, by Michelle Pfeiffer. I mean genuinely haunted. Those eyes could curdle milk. Combine it with a throat sitting gesture, well, it’s like clown time in Poltergeist. 6.44pm AEST07:44 As the national anthems play out Phil Withall from Queensland writes to say the lack of HD is the least of his problems. “The fair citizens of Queensland are just pleased they get to watch the game live. A rarity during daylight savings. For a ‘rugby league heartland’ we do get treated poorly up here.” 6.42pm AEST07:42 Both teams are preparing to leave the sheds, the sticky spray being applied to their hands. I’d think some players would need more than others but there doesn’t seem to be any portion control going on. Maybe if/when budget cuts hit they’ll sort that out. And here come the Kangaroos, led out by Cameron Smith. Or just Cameron, if you’re Ray Warren. Now it’s Simon Mannering leading out the Kiwis. 6.40pm AEST07:40 Weather report. Sort of: “It’s really windy here in Wellington,” Andrew Johns tells viewers. Windy, in Wellington?! As such, Johns, an immortal (but not a patch on Connor MacLeod from the Clan Macleod), expects a few bombs and for the fullbacks to get a workout. 6.39pm AEST07:39 So, Gerard Beale and Bodene Thompson miss out for the hosts while, as happened against Samoa, Robbie Farah, Aidan Guerra and Ryan Hoffman are left out of the Aussie team. So expect Ben Hunt’s versatility to be called on tonight. 6.33pm AEST07:33 Teams New Zealand: 1. Peta Hiku, 2. Jason Nightingale, 3. Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 4. Dean Whare, 5. Manu Vatuvei, 6. Kieran Foran, 7. Shaun Johnson, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Issac Luke, 10. Adam Blair, 11. Simon Mannering (c), 12. Kevin Proctor, 13. Jason Taumalolo Interchange: 14. Lewis Brown, 15. Greg Eastwood, 16. Martin Taupau, 17. Tohu Harris Australia: 1. Greg Inglis, 2. Josh Mansour, 3. Michael Jennings, 4. Dylan Walker, 5. Sione Mata’utia, 6. Daly Cherry-Evans, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Aaron Woods, 9. Cameron Smith (c), 10. Josh Papalii, 11. Sam Thaiday, 12. Greg Bird, 13. Corey Parker. Interchange: 14. Boyd Cordner, 18. Ben Hunt, 19. Josh Jackson, 20. David Klemmer. Updated at 6.34pm AEST 6.32pm AEST07:32 In broadcasting news, Kelly’s Heroes (1970) has just finished on Nine’s HD channel, Gem, and the footy is finally on (in Victoria). Of course in NSW and Queensland where the game is loved fans will be watching on Nine’s main channel. In standard definition. Madness. 6.28pm AEST07:28 In crowd news, let’s keep an eye on the attendance. If more than 17,903 turn up tonight the 2014 tournament will become the best attended Four Nations tournament ever. Sure, this is only the fourth time the 4Nations has been played but let’s not quibble... 6.24pm AEST07:24 To whet your appetites, do you remember what happened the last time these teams met in the Four Nations final? It was way back in, um, 2010. Here are the final few minutes with New Zealand trailing 12-10. How about that Nightingale pass? It was about 7m forward. But then let’s not forget the Australian try scored by Brent Tate; in the lead up, Brett Morris clearly had a boot on the touchline. How wonderful it would be if there are no such refereeing oversights (undersights?) tonight. 6.15pm AEST07:15 This will be the fourth Four Nations final, with Australia having won two to New Zealand’s one. The bookmakers disagree but I’d have New Zealand as favourites. They are bigger, more experienced, nicely balanced and are at home. They also have Shaun Johnson. Australia have definitely improved through the tournament, and they have Greg Inglis in the hanger ready to go all Ride of the Valkyries, but I just wonder if their fleet of rookies might struggle with the pace and the occasion. Of course, much will depend on how the Kangaroos forwards handle their Kiwi counterparts. Encouragingly for Australia, the forwards put in a winning shift against Samoa last week and Dave Klemmer, Aaron Woods and Josh Papalii should have gained some confidence from the endeavour. If they can hold their own tonight —and stop the Kiwis offloading— then Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Daly Cherry-Evans and Inglis could engineer a brilliant tournament win for what is really an Australian B team. But how healthy are the Australians? The Kangaroos camp was troubled by a virus this week and the affected were quarantined to limit the damage. I don’t know if it got so bad that Cooper Cronk was lying with his head in Cameron Smith’s lap as Smith begged him not to go into the light, but it was hardly ideal on the eve of a big game. 6.01pm AEST07:01 Good evening The curtain is about to lift on what will be the final act of an enthralling Four Nations tournament, one that has had worldly league fans (i.e. those who not only wear pants during meal times but also eschew the notion that the world revolves around the NRL) longing for more regular international matches, especially if they can live up to some of the belters we’ve seen over the past few weeks. The tournament highlight to date —and the reason the tournament has been so warmly received— has arguably been the performance of Samoa. First they had New Zealand jumping out of their tatts, then they were narrowly pipped by England and still, prior to playing Australia, they were a chance of making the final had the last round of matches gone their way. It didn’t quite work out for them in the end but the plus-size Samoans put forward a strong case that they have arrived as a genuine force and are now league’s number four nation. And so they give hope to the likes of Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and a host of European nations, not least France, that league’s best days as an international sport could well lay ahead if the will is found to play internationals on a regular basis. Samoa, of course, will not feature in today’s final. For all the fingernail closeness of the tournament, for all the ifs and buts and shouldas and couldas that Samoa (and England) might now be entertaining, old foes Australia and New Zealand will square up tonight in Wellington. Given the tournament to date we’ve every reason to anticipate a thriller. So stay tuned, drop me a line (paul.connolly@theguardian.com), and let’s get ready to grumble! Sorry, rumble. Definitely, rumble. Kick off: 8.45pm local time (6.45pm AEDT). 6.00pm AEST07:00 Paul will be along shortly but before he gets here, why not have a read of what Kangaroos’ coach Tim Sheens thinks of tonight’s decider. He wants to “maintain the rage”, which sounds rather ominous… Read the full preview here. |