Darren Lockyer insists Australia will make New Zealand pay for failing to finish them off in their Four Nations clash that ended 20-20 at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.
World champions New Zealand looked set to repeat last year’s World Cup exploits thanks to late tries from Lance Hohaia and Frank Pritchard. But Cameron Smith collected Greg Inglis’ pass in the 78th minute to allow Johnathan Thurston to tie up the scores. After keeping their championship hopes alive, the Brisbane Broncos skipper claims the Kangaroos are approaching their best form.
“We were very rusty out there in all of our combinations and in most of our play,” said Lockyer, who is now Australia’s most capped player. “We haven’t really had a lot of time together ahead of these championships and I think that showed.”
PHOTO: AFP
“We were looking like we were in serious trouble at the end there but we’ve pulled it out of the bag,” he said. “We would have been really struggling if we lost, but we haven’t and we have to seize on that. New Zealand were ahead and they didn’t close it out so we have to use that to our advantage and go on in this tournament.”
“But we know we will improve and we will carry that into the games with England and France,” he said. “This game — regardless of result — was always going to leave us in a better position for our next game. We will be sharper and we’ll be better.”
Frank-Paul Nuuausala, who made his Kiwi debut against Tonga last week, collected Adam Blair’s superb pass to power the world champions ahead in the fifth minute. Smith unleashed Melbourne Storm teammate Inglis out the back of his hand, who in turn allowed Brett Morris to cap his debut with a try and Thurston leveled up the scores.
Junior Sau powered through three men to drag his side back into the game before Hohaia made amends for his earlier error to bag a converted try and take the lead. Frank Pritchard bulldozed through to seemingly seal the Kiwi comeback, but after Bryson Goodwin missed the extras Smith picked up Inglis’ pass to cross and allow Thurston to tie the scores.
“We’re pretty gutted with the way it has finished,” New Zealand’s Benji Marshall said. “We thought we’d done enough to win that game and we’re all pretty crushed.
“People can say what they want about us being unworthy world champions but we showed today it was no fluke,” he said. “We were down at times in the game and we showed what we are about by coming back really strongly. It takes a lot of heart and a lot of guts to do that and we did it. It’s hard to stomach now knowing we were so close to victory, but it wasn’t to be and on reflection we can be proud of our performance.”
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