Rugby League World Cup 2008 final review.

New Zealand 34-20 Australia
For the past nineteen years I never thought it would happen. For the past nineteen years I have seen a team in green and gold rule the roost on international RL. I have seen whitewash test series, heartbreaking test series and 64-10 test matches.


But there have been moments for joy for opposition to the so called 'elite'. 23-10 in Sydney 2006, I was present at 24-0 in Leeds 2005 and now in 2008 I saw on my magic box another historic victory.

Australia's 33 year domination came to an end on the 22nd November 2008, and with it the credibility of international Rugby League was released from its cage. But this was not a one off victory for New Zealand, this victory had been sneaking up on Australia for years to come. Ever since the introduction of Auckland Warriors in 1995, New Zealand Rugby League has been making important steps to defeat their Tasman rivals. Success was achieved and with it, a little piece of history. Until Saturday, New Zealand had never won the RL World Cup.


What surprised me early on in the game is both teams desire to play some footy. Both sides early on in their set of six offloaded in rather risky situations. From then on I knew we would have a cracking game on our hands. From then on we saw tries and plays that would keep the Harlem Globetrotters happy. Darren Lockyer's fantastic team try was a perfect example of this. Australia should have closed the game from that moment, they had the momentum going into half time and should have capitalised.


But as we all know, with an Australian loss comes excuses and talking points. We'll start with the penalty try. Should it have been given? The answer is no. Now bear with me here. I don't believe it should have been a penalty try, but it should have been a simple penalty and Joel Monaghan should have been sin binned. Chances are NZ would have scored from the set of six anyway so it may not have affected the result. But I felt that Billy Slater was in a position where there was a 50/50 chance of either Slater or Roparti contesting the ball. As we all know, a penalty try can only be given if there is 100% certainty of the attacking player scoring. In my opinion there wasn't and a penalty should have been awarded to New Zealand ten metres out.

The other talking point is the steal from Anthoney Laffranchi on Benji Marshall resulting in Jerome Roparti scoring from what looked like a knock on on first look. However, despite the cry from various fans of Marshall not having hold of the ball properly, I feel there was intent from Watmough to strip the ball and therefore a one-on-one strip is play on no matter where the ball lands. Lucky for New Zealand, it was they who picked the ball up and scored.

Australia never recovered from the penalty try despite Greg Inglis scoring in the corner with minutes of the game remaining. They panicked under 33 years of pressure and despite former Australian greats claiming that this green and gold side was the best ever, they surrendered the World Cup and New Zealand made a little piece of history.