Kiwis vs Kangaroos 2.0 and we got a fairly similar result. Not quite the general demolition (relatively) that went down in Perth but despite the Kiwis staying in this contest admirably, it never really felt as they were going to win as they went back to rolling out a stuttering attack that didn't come close to matching an impressive defensive effort.

I say that cringing though, as it was the Kiwis defence that let them down the most. Goal-line defence was pretty good from the Kiwis, as it was against England and it's nice to see that the Kiwis are placing a major emphasis on how they go about stopping points. Maybe that's why the Kiwis felt like they could linger in the tackle, pushing the boundaries close to their try-line as they were and are confident in their defence (bit dumb when one penalty becomes two and suddenly you are four points behind) ... or this was a case of the Kiwis scrambling to slow the Aussies down.

When the Kiwis have their defensive line set and have time to push up with aggression, their defence looks good but the Kangaroos were fantastic in getting a roll on down the field. This is where it all felt similar to what happened in Perth because the Australian forwards and more importantly, their outside backs ensured that the Aussies were always making metres, always putting their play-makers in good areas of the field. We know this Kiwis forward pack is beastly, yet in two games against Australia they've come off second-best.

Australia's forwards were always taking hit ups with a bit of momentum thanks to the work of their outside backs, who were simply more enthusiastic than their opposition and the Kiwis struggled to contain Blake Ferguson, Valentine Holmes and Darius Boyd when they were returning kicks. These three averaged 11.24m with each kick-return, compared to 8.45m from Jordan Kahu, Gerard Beale and Jordan Rapana, meaning that the Kangaroos had their machine on the front-foot from the first tackle more often than not.

This makes you wonder about Beale's selection as he doesn't really have any great strengths besides being experienced and safe. Jason Nightingale has played prop in the NRL and is generally more rugged, so I love what he offers but if Nightingale's unavailable, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak offers much more oomph than Beale, as does David Fusitua. 

Jordan Rapana and Ferguson both wore the No.5 jersey and both averaged 12m per-carry in this game, then if you're putting Beale and Holmes up against each other in the No.2 jerseys it's no contest; in terms of who offers more x-factor and productivity as Beale averaged 8.1m per-carry while Holmes rolled through 12.6m per-carry. 

Australia's outside backs dominated and they also had four forwards run over 100m, while Jesse Bromwich and Jason Taumalolo did what they usually do. Beale's inclusion didn't add much to the Kiwis, nor did Greg Eastwood's inclusion and this is also why we as Kiwis fans, shouldn't be too down on this result as the Kiwis hung in there despite a sub-par team selected, with sub-par rotations and slightly sub-par performances. Eastwood was brought in to start but didn't do a whole lot with a couple of carries in a short stint on the field before being replaced by Adam Blair and with Tohu Harris moving to the middle to make way for Manu Ma'u, Eastwood was surplus to requirements.

There's a bit of a war going on between Mal Meninga and Wayne Bennett at the moment, which has me pondering how intense that clash will be. Meninga will want to absolutely smoke Bennett's England - hence Cooper Cronk was rested here - and this will work in favour of the Kiwis as an Australian win and a Kiwis win over Scotland will seal a finals spot. Assuming this all takes place, I reckon we'll see a different forward rotation in the final with the likes of Martin Taupau and Ma'u getting more minutes off the bench.

As the Kiwis missed 35 tackles vs 19, conceded 7 penalties vs 4 and came off second best in metres per-carry (8.55m vs 9.8m), it's difficult to judge the work of the Kiwis halves. Last week they were able to do as they pleased thanks to fantastic work through the middle in getting them on the front foot and when we also consider the difference in line-speed and pressure from the Kangaroos compared to England, it's a different beast playing against the Aussies. 

The one note I will make is that I'm still weary about the lack of balance in play-making, especially kicking between Shaun Johnson and Thomas Leuluai. Johnson had 13 kicks to Leuluai's 6, twice as many as Leuluai while Jonathan Thurston had 10 and Cameron Smith had 7 kicks. Michael Morgan wasn't used as a kicker, only a running/passing half and why would you when you've got Smith's left boot running the show on the left and Thurston's wizardry on the right.

In two games against Australia, Johnson has kicked far more than Leuluai (23 kicks vs 10) and this only plays into Australia's hands as they can direct more pressure towards Johnson. This could be why Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Jordan Rapana were each called on to kick as well, with Johnson feeling the heat and unable to get a kick away, he passed it further along the line. 

Knowing that Johnson is going to kick twice as much as Leuluai also enables the Australian back-three the opportunity to set themselves up for the kick. This could be why they were able to keep the ball in play and keep taking kicks on the full; being predictable is far from ideal in many ways.

The stats and my general theme above suggests that the Kiwis were thoroughly out-played by the Kangaroos and they kinda were, but they kinda weren't either and the scoreboard reflects a gritty display from the Kiwis to stay in the contest. We are yet to see our Kiwis maintain parity in possession and metres against Australia over two games, which is reason enough to be optimistic ... assuming they make the Four Nations final.