A Shaun Johnson kicking disaster-class has hurt New Zealand severely, as Australia have taken a comprehensive 26-4 victory at WIN Stadium in front of 18,000 fans.
Both sides started very evenly with solid opening sets through the opening 10 minutes until the Aussie side broke the deadlock with a penalty goal off the boot of Latrell Mitchell following the Kiwis being penalised for a slow ruck. The Aussies then started to gain momentum as Jake Trbojevic claimed a four-pointer only to be denied for the first time by the Bunker.
The Kiwis night began to unravel and the Aussies first try of the night came through an intercept taken by Latrell Mitchell who found Josh Addo-Carr and the fox raced away untouched to score. The momentum had well and truly swung in favour of the Kangaroos and they were able to cross again in the 27th minute when Tyson Frizell stepped his way over the line only to nearly lose the ball. Thankfully for Frizell and the Australians he was able to take control and get the ball down.
The Kiwi's were able to get their only try of the match on the half-hour mark when a scrum play on their own 10m line gave the New Zealanders a chance for a set play and they got their only try through Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
The second half was something that New Zealand coach Michael Maguire would want wiped from his memory as his Kiwi side struggled to both retain possession and when they did, give the ball straight back to the Aussies. The half started with Jamayne Isaako putting the ball out on the field which was quickly followed up by a number of consecutive kicks from Shaun Johnson that were consistently too deep.
The Aussies first try of the second half came after NZ tried to create something out of nothing on last tackle and after what seemed to be like 100 passes, the ball fell perfectly for Damian Cook who raced 85m to score an intercept try.
Ball security continued to plague the Kiwis and some good work by Damian Cook found space and James Tedesco was in the right place to take the pass from Cook to score. The Aussies had one more chance to score but yet again Jake Trbojevic was denied by the bunker who ruled that the Kiwis defelction hit Trbojevic and travelled forward which constituted the knock-on. The Aussies capped off the night with a penalty goal through DCE.
Next weekend, the Aussies have their final match of the year against the Tonga Invitational side in New Zealand, whilst the Kiwis have the first of two matches against Great Britain at the same venue - Eden Park - as part of a triple header event which also features a Samoa-Fiji test.