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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2632849, member: 1899"] Watching through the game again... The first try was a well constructed Melbourne Storm play with Beau Scott playing the role of Kevin Proctor. Beautiful ball from Cronk with the margin for error being very high but he timed it very well. Australia had a good chance to go back to back as NZ made another mistake and compounded it with a penalty but they lost their way. Bird threw a bad offload to nobody and then got smashed by Proctor before the last. This forced Cronk to go for the grubber but Foran accepted it pretty comfortably. From there, they were able to put together a good set with Taumalolo bursting through a Thaiday cover tackle and the game was brought back to an arm wrestle. The 40/20 kick was extremely clever by Johnson. The Kiwis directed the play down their right hand-side, Mansour got caught at marker after two good efforts on SKD & Mannering back to back but Walker realised too late that the Aussies were short on that side. They should have scored on that set, was a lovely ball from Foran to catch the Australians short but of course Nightingale spilled it. Credit to GI for doing his job and forcing that mistake. It eventually lead to a try to Proctor. It all went back to a bad mistake from Greg Bird working his way out of trouble and NZ did a very good job of building pressure with Shaun Johnson the star of the passage. He threatened to break through the Australians left fringe before setting up Proctor who beat some would be defence from DCE & Hoffman in cover. Worth noting that Jenko came up with a try saver earlier on SJ and was involved here but could hold the big fella up. 6 all. Australia were in all sorts at this point, the Kiwis were putting them under all sorts of pressure, driving Hoffman back until Woods came up with a good run that not only won the ruck but also earned his team a penalty. At that point, Parker and Papalii came on for the two starting front rows. Both Parker and Papalii made two strong hit ups, giving Cronk a chance to take it to the line and off the quick play the ball, GI summed it up from dummy half. 12-6 Australia. Unfortunately, Papalii made a meal of it from the kick off inviting the Kiwis back into the contest. They look to hit back through Kevin Proctor but the pass from SJ turns out to be a metre or so forward. Another blown opportunity, but at the same time, a warning shot and a reminder of how vulnerable DCE is in defence. Hoffman threw a bad offload, which Blair was able to bat back and once again, Australia were under a lot of pressure until Proctor put down a tricky Eastwood wrap-around pass to let the Aussies off the hook. Cronk puts in a nice kick that forces Hiku to play at it inside his own in-goal but SJ comes up with a great kick of his own, placing a swirling bomb that GI manages to take but ends up losing in the tackle from Foran giving NZ another opportunity. A few tackles later, Greg Eastwood was able to get a quick play the ball and Lewis Brown was able to score a very soft try targetting Hoffman/DCE. 12 all. The game then goes through an end to end passage. SJ puts through a really poor kick that Mansour was able to gather on the full on his own 30. From the ensuing set, Cronk works a slick play with Hoffman to put Jennings into space but on the last, Hoffman loses the ball over the line and the Kiwis launch their own counter-attack largely through Proctor who was able to stand Parker up. However, Foran puts up a terrible chip kick on the last that GI was able to gather up and bring out to the 20m for a 7 tackle set. DCE is taken off the field for his back injury. Australia worked their way into prime field position but just as Smith was looking to fire a pass to Parker, the ball goes to ground and the Kiwis are awarded a scrum for a Parker knock on. Replays show it came off of Eastwood, a bad call against the Australians. From that set, NZ work their way into the Australia's territory with some nice interchange of passes from Eastwood but on the last, Thaiday races up on Foran who forces him to pass to Hiku, who has no choice but to give it to SKD who is easily taken by Walker. Australia receive a penalty for Tohu crowding the play the ball, Rabs tries to call it a square up but it's a pretty blantant example. Unfortunately on tackle one, Parker loses it going for a half-hearted offload. Fortunately for the Aussies, Kiwis work another play down their right hand side but they're up to task and drive SKD over the sideline pretty comfortably. Australia are given the last say of the half, work their way just inside the Kiwis half but a wishful Cronk field goal sails wide. 12 all HT. Will go through the second in just a bit. So far, I don't think the Australians have given themselves too much of an opportunity. Too much dropped ball early in the tackle count and forced offloads. Taumalolo, Proctor & Johnson strong for NZ - Cronk impressed me and starting to think a lot of people have been very harsh on Woods. [/QUOTE]

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