Rugby League: Australia forced into extra effort
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Your support makes all the difference.World Cup semi-finals
Australia (14) 30 New Zealand (4) 20
After extra time yesterday; at Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield. Attendance: 16,608.
England (11) 25 Wales (4) 10
Saturday; at Old Trafford, Manchester. Attendance: 30,042.
Final: Wembley (Saturday, 3pm).
Rugby League
DAVE HADFIELD
reports from Huddersfield
Australia 30 New Zealand 20
New Zealand came agonisingly close to breaking Australia's grip on the World Cup before succumbing in extra time at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium yesterday.
Tries from Terry Hill and Brad Fittler during the extra 20 minutes give the illusion of a comfortable Australian passage to the final. It was anything but that, ranking among the most dramatic matches ever played between the two countries.
When the man of the match, Steve Menzies, underlined his status as the world's most dangerous forward in the 50th minute by going 70 yards for his second try to put Australia 20-6 ahead, they seemed to be on their way to a routine win over a side they had already beaten three times this year.
At that point, however, New Zealand finally began to believe in their ability to play this game.
Wonderful sustained handling took the Kiwis into Australian territory and their huge, powerful centres, Kevin Iro and Richie Blackmore, combined to send Richard Barnett in.
With nine minutes of normal time remaining, Gene Ngamu, one second-half substitute whose presence enlivened New Zealand, got his pass to another and Tony Iro went in. Matthew Ridge's conversion put them within four points.
With a crowd, solidly pro-Kiwi to the extent of jeering the steady stream of Australian trainers and water carriers littering the pitch, roaring them on, New Zealand equalised with two minutes left. Henry Paul, Ridge and Blackmore linked up for Kevin Iro to emulate his brother's touchdown.
The Kiwi captain, Ridge, now had a conversion attempt from the touchline to, in all probability, win the game. Although he missed badly, he went much closer with a drop- goal attempt two minutes into injury time.
"As I was falling down I could see it bending in. I thought it was there," Ridge said. "It was a coat of paint."
Australia had the benefit of two fresh substitutes in extra time, plus the return of Hill, who had spent the last four minutes of normal time in the sin bin for delaying a play-the-ball.
It was a case of the returning prodigal for Hill, who ran on to a pass from Jason Smith and was there, when Jim Dymock and, with his first touch, Matthew Johns moved it on, to collect the ball and finish the move.
That was it for the Kiwis, the feeling that they had fired their last shot confirmed by the ease with which Fittler went over two minutes into the second period of extra time. It had looked even easier in the first 10 minutes when they had taken a 10-point lead thanks to tries from Tim Brasher and Menzies.
New Zealand hung on until Mark Coyne scored for Australia shortly before half-time and deserved enormous credit for the way they came back after Menzies' spectacular second appeared to have killed them off.
If only they could have played like that a little earlier, they would not have been reliant upon Ridge's kicks to win it. "He doesn't miss many," observed Australia's Bob Fulton, his club coach at Manly, who also revealed that a protest is being made over the refereeing of Russell Smith and particularly the penalty count against Australia in the second half.
"Eight or nine penalties to one is not conducive to finishing them off," he said. "We have spoken to Greg McCallum but we won't make an issue about it.
"We will be going through the correct channels and we will be lodging a complaint about the referee's performance."
New Zealand: Tries Barnett, K Iro, T Iro. Goals Ridge 4. Australia: Tries Menzies 2, Brasher, Coyne, Fittler, Hill. Goals: A Johns 3.
AUSTRALIA: Brasher (Sydney Tigers); Wishart (Illawarra), Coyne (St George), Hill (Manly), Dallas (Sydney Bulldogs); Fittler (Penrith, capt), Toovey (Manly); Pay (Sydney Bulldogs), A Johns (Newcastle), Carroll (Manly), Menzies (Manly), Larson (North Sydney), Dymock (Sydney Bulldogs). Substitutes: O'Davis (Newcastle) for Wishart, h-t; Smith (Sydney Bulldogs) for Carroll, 57; M Johns (Newcastle) for Pay, 86; Kosef (Manly) for Dymock, 97.
NEW ZEALAND: Ridge (Manly, capt); Hoppe (Camberra), Blackmore (Auckland), K Iro (Leeds), Barnett (Cronulla); Kemp (Leeds), Jones (Auckland); Lomax (Camberra), Paul (Wigan), Lowrie (Sydney City), Kearney (Auckland), Pangia (Camberra, Horo (Western Suburbs). Substitutes: Ngamu (Auckland) for Kemp, h-t, T Iro (Sydney City) for Lomax, 55; Wiki (Camberra) for Horo, 62, Okesene (Auckland) for Lowrie, 69.
Referee: R Smith (Castleford).
More World Cup, page 24
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