Kiwis launching late comeback after coach-killer moment sets crowd ...

A dazzling defensive display and a Zac Lomax double have powered the Kangaroos to a gritty 22-10 win over New Zealand to book Australia’s spot in the Pacific Cup final where they could face the Kiwis again in two weeks.

Redemption has been the theme for the Aussies after they were embarrassed 30-0 in last year’s final, and they won back plenty of respect in what coach Mal Meninga said was the biggest Test match they’d played in 30 years.

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While they were clunky in attack in last week’s win over Tonga, Meninga’s men defended their way to victory across the ditch where they enjoyed just 41 per cent of the territory and had to make an extra 34 tackles.

“I felt like our goal defence inside our 20 was exceptional again, particularly in the second half when I think we had to defend four sets in the opening 10 minutes,” Meninga said.

The defensive grit would have pleased their coach who also would have loved seeing Tom Trbojevic dance through on the stroke of half-time before he linked up with Lomax who powered his way over to break the deadlock.

They were then forced to defend their line for long stretches in the second half and absorbed everything before Lomax crashed over for his second, with Mitch Moses then backing up a Dylan Edwards break to seal it with nine minutes left.

The win seals Australia’s spot in the final, while New Zealand and Tonga will fight it out next week to book a date with the Kangaroos who can enjoy some time off.

“The end goal is the championship in two weeks’ time,” Yeo said.

MAGIC JOHNSON

He hadn’t played in nearly two months and was supposed to be enjoying retirement, but Shaun Johnson showed he is still one of the best playmakers in the world after he carried the New Zealand attack which was missing key personnel.

Dally M winner Jahrome Hughes was unavailable for the tournament, as was Parramatta’s Dylan Brown, which forced the Kiwis to send their legendary halfback an SOS which he proudly answered.

The hosts lacked creativity in their spine apart from Johnson who controlled the game beautifully with his kicking game, with the halfback setting up Will Warbrick after the winger caught the ball and bamboozled Lomax with his footwork to get his side back in the game.

But they’ll need to find more continuity in attack against Tonga given they had so much ball and dominated the middle thanks to Joseph Tapine and James Fisher-Harris, while Keano Kini ran for more than 200 metres on debut.

A FINE DROP

Angus Crichton has enjoyed the best year of his career, but he had a moment to forget just four minutes into Sunday’s clash when he produced one of the bombed tries of the season in Christchurch.

The star edge forward juggled a Tom Dearden pass and strolled through, but replays showed he let go of the ball as he casually tried to plant it with no one around him.

Thankfully for him, Roosters teammate Lindsay Collins made no mistake when he charged through and ran 40 metres to open the scoring.

“I told him to flush it as quickly as he can,” Yeo said.

“It doesn’t help spraying him because he’s probably already doing that to himself. I thought he bounced back really well after it.

“Every now and then you have a moment like that and you’re happy it’s not you. He probably didn’t feel great at the time… he could have easily gone into his shell and shied away from the game, but he didn’t do that.”

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