Brissy Got Hot

We won the ruck!

Hallelujah, we did it. Or they did, whatever. And with the ruck, the game.

On the back of a dominant forward effort the Kiwis were able to slow down the Kangaroos service from the base of the ruck, reorganise the defensive line and come at them again. They weren’t able to do it all match. There were several periods during the first half where the Aussies had frighteningly quick service but the Kiwis edge defence largely held their own.

With the game locked at half time I was expecting normal service to resume and for the Australians to lift and bring their dangerous outside backs in more.

But alas, it was our boys who lifted. The Storm’s big three in the Kiwis were into everything while Martin Taupau and Greg Eastwood bought immense energy from the bench.

Throughout the week the media had externally heaped pressure on debutant Jason Taumalolo and it seems Kearney’s decision to shield him from this was vindicated. Nonetheless, he provided plenty of strong runs from the get go. His ability to keep surging forward following the initial impact of the tackle meant an extra defender was needed or he would chew up another five metres.

Piggybacking their effort were halves Shaun Johnson and Kieran Foran. They didn’t bust out any dance moves but they played direct, their long kicking game was on point and Johnson’s towering bombs even troubled Greg Inglis.

A few question marks still hang around the outside backs however.

Dean Whare’s proven himself at test level as has Jason Nightingale, despite his minties moment across the try line, though they don’t possess extreme amounts of x-factor, they will execute as required.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall has been inconsistent over the last few seasons but performed well on Saturday night. A return to his 2010 vintage would as valuable as much as it would be timely.

Gerard Beale would have considered himself fortunate to be promoted to the squad in the first place and would be fortunate to retain it. Bar his early blunder in the lead up to Beau Scott’s opening try he was reasonably solid. He carried strongly and defused the other kicks sent his was but he just doesn’t have the same punch Manu Vatuvei does in his carries.

Manu’s form for the Warriors was much more consistent where he finished well, ate more metres than George Rose does pies and is not as vulnerable under the high ball as he used to be. In a backline bereft of size I see him as a superior option to Beale.

At the back Peta Hiku held his own. He earned the most metres out of all players on the pitch, positioned himself well and returned a few kicks with something extra. As a young fullback though, he is still developing his game when he comes into the line on attack. There were several instances when the Kiwis were in the ‘Roos danger zone where he came in and just shuffled the ball on to his centres, giving them little to work with and didn’t really have a crack himself. He showed with his kick returns that he can beat defenders so maybe it’s his inexperience and confidence holding him back. Josh Hoffman’s in the squad and is an able back up but Hiku deserves another crack.

So yeah, more of the same stuff please Kiwis.

On another note it was awesome to see Samoa take it to England. It was a match full of momentum shifts and arguably the more exciting match.

I would argue that the Samoans would have got across the line with a half that could organise his team well. Kyle Stanley did well on the weekend, but he is better suited to centre. His halves partner Ben Roberts has had an erratic career, full of potential and all, and on Saturday he showed his skill with some top notch kicking but didn’t order his forwards around the park.

There were plenty of instances when Samoa were trundling up the park but lacked a cohesive structure to turn it into a promising opportunity. They needed a leader with a voice.

But damn they got close. Hopefully we see more the same.