Low key peep Solomone Kata's haka involvement, the toko is embracing being a Kiwis rep 1-hunnit

In beating England by a point, the Kiwis showed major improvements from their loss to Australia in Perth, yes. Although, this win only confirmed to me that the Kiwis were holding a few things back in Perth as the likes of Jason Taumalolo played far more minutes while Jordan Kahu enjoyed more involvement on attack. The forwards rolled forward with ease and Kahu added some classy touches from fullback, which as I said in the preview, allowed the Kiwis halves to do a far better job in dictating terms.

Thomas Leuluai was solid on the left and while he was on the park, he forced a few drop-outs and generally did his job. When Leuluai departed via a concussion, we saw the best of Shaun Johnson and when Johnson is at his best along with a strong performance from the forwards, this Kiwis team is going to win games more often than not.

I found myself in an odd spot as I admired the work of Johnson; while Johnson had the ball on a string, there were some serious contributions from Kahu, Taumalolo, Jesse Bromwich, Martin Taupau, Jordan Rapana. No one played badly. Johnson was at his best though and the best of Johnson coincided with Leuluai leaving the field, effectively handing full control over to Johnson and while I do reckon it will be difficult for Johnson to run the show against the Kangaroos by himself, he did a fair job in closing this game out.

Johnson drifted from side to side, probing here, probing there and showing off a full array of handling skills, passes and kicks. It was kinda magical and I had to pinch myself because it just felt like I was watching a footy master at work and the sheer variety of those magical touches is what made (and could make) Johnson so hard to step. Johnson set up a try for Rapana by running first and good things happen when Johnson runs, luring cautious defenders in before picking the right option. Johnson soon popped up in the left to take a difficult catch and swiftly dribble a grubber into the in-goal area, sealing a drop-out; the Kiwis forced 4 more drop-outs than England (6-2).

And then Johnson pulled the trigger, catching everyone off-guard. Knocking a drop-goal over from close range isn't easy as the opposition start just a few metres away, however Johnson's element of surprise gave him a few extra seconds and he got the Kiwis ahead, before kicking the Kiwis to victory.

Yet it was Kahu who had the try-assist for Rapana's try, getting the ball from Johnson before throwing a 10m cut-out pass that Broncos homie Darius Boyd would be proud of. It was Kahu who got into dummy-half to pass Johnson the footy for the droppie and it was Kahu who didn't put a foot wrong. Kahu isn't overly big, nor is he overly quick but he always seems to land on his belly and play the ball quickly and is excessively safe under the high-ball, while also showing off some classy touches in passing the footy, which takes a heap of pressure off Johnson. How the Johnson x Kahu combo blossoms from this point on will be very interesting to watch.

Um, so in an international Test against a strong England forward pack, Jason Taumalolo played 77 minutes. That's pretty amazing for a bloke like Taumalolo who's footballing currency is power, however that power also allowed Taumalolo to make 271m from 24 carries. Those are fairly normal numbers for Taumalolo in the NRL, hence he won both the Dally M and Players Champion awards, this my friends is international footy, against England who are pretty damn good and against Sam Burgess and James Graham (who both ran 206m). Taumalolo basically just put every other forward in the shade, which in the international arena is no easy task.

Johnson was superb, worthy of his Man Of The Match honours indeed. The Kiwis only won this game thanks to Taumalolo's brilliance through the middle, this also came with Jesse Bromwich making 172m off 14 carries and Martin Taupau making 167m off 15 carries. Let's take that further and celebrate some ruthless efficiency through the middle that reflects the brutal power of this Kiwis forward pack (far better than in Perth); Bromwich, Taupau, Taumalolo, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Manu Ma'u and Adam Blair all averaged more than 10m per-carry.

When all your middle forwards are average 10m with each run of the footy, everything else becomes a little bit easier. The Kiwis halves enjoyed far better field-position as well as a tad more time with the footy and Issac Luke (107m off 12 runs) can then scoot, using his speed to cause problems ... how about the five outside backs for the Kiwis making 51m off 6 dummy half runs compared to England's 13m off 4 dummy half runs.

Luke's dangerous with the Kiwis plowing through the middle, but the work of the outside backs also hints at a clear style of play from the Kiwis which has given them success in recent years. Luke and the outside backs scoot, sniffing around the ruck area on the back of the nimble Kiwis forwards punching England's defence around the ruck. This was a barrage of Kiwis power and with England's middle defenders on their heels consistently, the Kiwis play-makers, most notably Johnson enjoyed their work with a relatively luxurious amount of time and space.

England were very good (more on that in today's Rugby League Journal) and this game reflected how even these two teams are, plus them Aussies. What we saw though were two rather different styles of footy and a play-maker in Johnson who simply put on a show. For us Kiwis fans, seeing how dominant this forward pack can be along with the skills from Johnson is encouraging.

Perhaps almost as encouraging as seeing Solomone Kata make 4 tackles 1-on-1, thus snuffing out a bunch of English attacking raids close to the Kiwis try-line.