Australia defeated New Zealand 26-12 in the opening pool match of last year’s Four Nations series in Warrington.
Australia got off to a flying start when prop Matthew Scott plunged over in just the second minute before further tries to Tony Williams (28th minute) and Johnathan Thurston (37th minute) saw the Kangaroos head to the halftime break with a commanding 16-nil lead.
The Kiwis threw caution to the wind early in the second half, with tries to Jason Nightingale and Kalifa Faifai Loa bridging the gap to just four points with 23 minutes left to play. However, a Darius Boyd try gave Australia breathing space in the 64th minute, while Akuila Uate iced their cake when he scored four minutes from fulltime.
Handling and errors hampered the Kiwi cause: they completed just 67 per cent of their sets compared to the Kangaroos who registered a sound 79 per cent with the ball in hand.
The decisive win in the UK came just two weeks after the green-and-gold walloped the black-and-white 42-6 at Hunter Stadium a fortnight after the 2012 NRL Grand Final.
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Remember you can access all the team lists, live scores and stats from
Australia vs New Zealand and City vs Country on your mobile this weekend.
Visit m.nrl.com on your mobile device, or
download the free 2012
Official NRL iPhone App ( live streaming radio available too ). Match
highlights from both rep games are available 20 minutes after each game has
ended, so you can relive all the big hits and tries from Auckland and Mudgee.
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