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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2632774, member: 1899"] Well, that was a surprisingly good performance from the Kiwis. In fairness to the Australians, when you rub out a fullback and half - you're always going to struggle and tonight was a clear example why. They went from getting GI level kick returns and had to settle for Walker who tried his best but clearly wasn't up to it at this time. It meant they stayed on the back-foot and just fed into the Kiwi's momentum. Those sort of adversities demand resilliance but unfortunately the task was too hard for the Australians tonight and they looked really lost. I'd actually have to put a level of blame on Smith for that. I thought his defence at times was poor and his decisions out of dummy half lacked the usual seal of confidence that's made him the player he is. Case in point, the Aussies worked their way into the Kiwis half in their best set of the second half. Instead of going to Cronk who had the numbers on the left, Smith called an audible, went right and Farah kicked it straight to Foran. Another case in point was when Scott & Mansour failed to trap Hiku in the corner. That was a huge play from Peta, brilliant but at the same time poor from the Australians. That isn't to take away from the Kiwis at all. They had some great performances and for the sake of this competition, hopefully tonight marks a coming of age. We spoke earlier about bad debuts - how about great debuts? Taumalolo was fantastic - a start to what should be a brilliant career in the black and white. He wasn't alone either - Bromwich was strong, Proctor took advantage of a crap fringe & the bench was fantastic. While the Kiwis waxed lyrical about Adam Blair, how about sparing a thought for Martin Taupau who was very strong in the middle of the field? Ran hard, bend the line and got a quick play the ball - what's not to like. Eastwood for mine has always been a good player in the bigger games. Once again, he stepped up here on his old stomping grounds. Not the greatest test matches I've seen, but certainly makes for compelling viewing, that's for sure. [/QUOTE]

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