New Zealand are the No.1 rugby league Test team in the world. I don't know about you, but I don't like the sound of that. New Zealand holds the World Cup, which they won in 2008, and the Four Nations trophy, a tournament (also contested as the Tri Nations) they have won twice in their past four attempts, defeating Australia 16-12 in the final in November last year. The Kangaroos, however, go into tonight's battle as favourites due to the fact the Australians ''always win this mid-season game''. Well we'd bloody-well better win it! Should the Aussies lose tonight, the trophy cabinet will be bare.
Australian halfback Johnathan Thurston acknowledged during the week that the Kiwis are No.1. He warned his teammates that anything other than their best won't be enough. Thurston himself has a huge job on his hands as he will defend on the left side of the field along with centre Greg Inglis and winger Brett Morris. These three will have the job of containing Kiwi five-eighth Benji Marshall who plays predominantly on the Kiwis' right side.
Although none of them played in the Four Nations final, they will most certainly have studied how Marshall bamboozled the Kangaroos to win the game.
STAGGERED DEFENCE
Marshall laid on all three tries for the Kiwis last time around, with picture one showing the lead up to the first try. Marshall is in the process of passing the ball to Shaun Kenny-Dowall who follows the line of the arrow on an unimpeded run to the line. As this was the last tackle for the Kiwis, one can only assume that Australian centre Willie Tonga and winger Lote Tuqiri were expecting Marshall to kick the ball. Regardless, it is suicide to give Marshall's support players this type of space by presenting such a staggered defensive line. Both Tonga and Tuqiri needed to come forward in line with their teammates inside them. If Marshall had then decided to kick, the ball would be fielded by fullback Billy Slater coming across in cover defence.
AGGRESSIVE DEFENCE
Picture two shows the lead up to the Kiwis' second try with the Australian defensive line looking completely different. Halfback Cooper Cronk has made a conscious effort to move up ahead of the defenders inside him and both Tonga and Tuqiri have followed suit. The idea behind this type of aggressive defence is to nullify Marshall's ability to threaten the last three defenders by forcing Marshall back inside. Marshall feels these three pressuring his outside men and looks for another option. The speed with which the defenders came forward opened up space in behind them and made it very hard for them to turn around quickly. Cronk, moving ahead of his inside man Greg Bird, has also opened up a hole for Marshall to kick into and this time Slater has a lot further to travel. Marshall, although it wasn't the last tackle, kicked the ball perfectly between Bird and Cronk for winger Jason Nightingale, who was positioned wide and flat (out of shot), to score the try. While hanging back and giving Marshall and his runners time to play will cause defensive problems, so too will racing up ahead of the defensive line because it brings Marshall's kicking game to the fore. A straight, composed line that is working together at all times is what is needed tonight.
UNCERTAIN DEFENCE
Trailing by two points with two minutes remaining, picture three shows how the match-winning try for the Kiwis came on the back of the uncertainty Marshall had created in the heads of the Australian left-edge defence. Having conceded a try from a kick due to being too far forward just eight minutes earlier, Tuqiri was now unsure where to be as Marshall received the ball on his own side of half-way, on the last tackle. If Lote had his time over again, I have no doubt he would know that he needs to be up on the end of the defensive line to ensure Marshall couldn't pass the ball to players in space. In the picture, Kenny-Dowall has just received a bullet-like pass from Marshall on the outside of Tonga. Tuqiri should have been positioned where the X is, allowing him to tackle Kenny-Dowall as he caught the ball, and stop the play dead.
Had Tuqiri been in position then Marshall would have opted for a kick. Under these circumstances, Slater should have been up flat for the kick and Australia wins the Four Nations. As it was, Tuqiri had dropped back 20 metres to defend the kick that never came, allowing Kenny-Dowall and Nightingale time and space. The rest is history.
The pressure is on the Australians tonight and what a salivating contest it offers to be with Marshall, Kenny-Dowall and Nightingale taking on Thurston, Inglis and Morris. Six of the best attacking players in the world but, as usual, defence will win out.
