Late tries give Kangaroos big win over Kiwis in Pacific Championship

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Valentine Holmes gives Dylan Brown a shove to the face in Saturday’s test in Melbourne.

At AAMI Park, Melbourne: Australia 36 (Valentine Holmes 8 min, Lindsay Collins 21 min, 30 min, Dylan Edwards 50 min, Ben Hunt 77, Cameron Murray 80 min tries; Holmes 6 goals). New Zealand 18 (Briton Nikora 17 min, Ronaldo Mulitalo 38 min, Fa’amanu Brown 72 min tries; Jamayne Isaako 3 goals). HT: 18-12.

The Kangaroos have won the battle, but it’s still possible for the Kiwis to win the war.

Australia defeated New Zealand 36-18 at AAMI Park in Melbourne on Saturday night, outscoring their opponents six tries to three, although the last two tries in the final three minutes of the test blew the score out and didn’t reflect on the game.

However, while this was a test match, it was also a dead rubber, as these two teams will square off against each other again next weekend in Hamilton in the final of the Pacific Championship.

For that game, the Kiwis will need to sharpen up in a few areas, particularly around winning the battle in the middle of the park and improving their edge defence.

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Valentine Holmes and the Australian team had plenty to celebrate in their win over the Kiwis.

The Kiwis will also need to be able to create more try scoring opportunities. Jahrome Hughes and Dylan Brown in the halves just didn’t have enough ball after the forwards had dented the line for them to open up Australia’s defence.

However, despite the final scoreline, this wasn’t a blowout and they competed well enough to not think the final in Hamilton is a foregone conclusion.

There was plenty of emotion going into this game and after the haka there was a stand-off between the two sides, with neither team willing to turn away.

It fired up the crowd and set the tone for an intense battle, although some of that was defused when Jamayne Isaako put the kick-off out on the full and allowed Australia into a great attacking position.

However, the Kangaroos weren’t faultless early on as Isaah Yeo stuffed up a play-the-ball 10m from the Kiwis’ line.

After that, the game settled down and it was Australia who bagged the opening try, with James Tedesco putting through a grubber that Valentine Holmes beat Ronaldo Mulitalo to, to ground the ball in goal.

In the 17th minute, the Kiwis were close to the Australian line, Hughes, who was back in headgear this week, put through a grubber, he chased it but was illegally brought down by Cameron Murray. However, it didn’t matter as Briton Nikora was able to get hold of the ball.

Lindsay Collins picked up a try for the Kangaroos four minutes later, while Isaako almost scored with a Superman dive 11 minutes before half-time, but just went into touch.

Two minutes later, Collins took another short pass for his second try as the scrambling Kiwis defence wasn’t able to slow down the attack.

With 90 seconds left to go in the half, Mulitalo caught a bomb from Hughes and grounded the ball over the line to help make it a six-point game at the break.

Ten minutes into the second half Dylan Edwards found space on the left edge to score the Kangaroos’ next try and when the Kiwis were caught offside when in possession of the ball in the 65th minute, Holmes kicked the penalty to make it a 14-point game.

Fa’amanu Brown scored a try for the Kiwis playing at dummy half with eight minutes to go, but Ben Hunt and Cameron Murray’s tries in the last three minutes sealed the game for Australia.

Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Payne Haas are expected to be back in the Kangaroos team for the Hamilton test, so there will be plenty for Kiwis coach Michael Maguire to mull over during the week.