Stellar finale to an embattled event

AAP | 22/11/08 | 0

Five million dollars' profit, a sellout crowd and a World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand in the game's centenary year that exploded before a tackle was made.
   
What followed was a remarkable 80 minutes and an even more remarkable result.
   
The underdog Kiwis repeated their stunning 2005 Tri-Nations upset with a dramatic 34-20 victory on the back of a highly controversial penalty try awarded by English video referee Steve Ganson.
   
Where are the knockers now?
   
The traditional pre-game haka set the scene with the players standing toe-to-toe eyeballing each other.
   
The massive Suncorp Stadium crowd of more than 50,000 loved every second of it, roaring their approval.
   
New Zealand-born Karmichael Hunt burst from the pack screaming at his Australian teammates to respond after the pumped up Kiwis taunted the Aussies with the most aggressive war chant seen in clashes between the two.
   
The sight of 80kg Kiwi hooker Issac Luke up on his toes snarling at 110kg Aussie giant Brent Kite was priceless.
   
Despite being smashed by a series of vicious electrical storms throughout the week, rugby league fans packed into the famous ground in their thousands.
   
The Kangaroos went into the final raging favourites having won all previous World Cup clashes against New Zealand since 1954.
   
They also strung together eight straight Test wins since the Kiwis embarrassed them 24-0 in England in 2005.
   
But the underdog Kiwis had a secret weapon this time, Australian supercoach Wayne Bennett, who was in charge of the Kangaroos when they were last beaten.
   
Bennett worked on the players' self belief while head coach Stephen Kearney prepared them tactically.
   
It took Australian fullback Billy Slater less than 20 minutes to show why he was named the Rugby League International Federation's player of the year on Monday, laying on tries for his skipper and man-of-the-match Darren Lockyer and also winger David Williams.
   
But it was moment of Slater madness when he hurled the ball blindly over his shoulder that gifted Kiwi five-eighth Benji Marshall a try that put New Zealand ahead 22-16 with just 20 minutes left.
   
When Australia - looking to win the World Cup for the seventh straight time - cruised to a 10-0 lead which threatened to go to 16-0 after Lockyer failed to ground a grubber kick, it seemed the critics tipping a one-sided final were on the money.
   
"This could be embarrassing," came the cry in the press box.
   
Ten minutes later the Kiwis somehow found themselves ahead 12-10 following tries to Jeremy Smith and David Fa'alogo.
   
Lockyer, as he so often does for Australia, regained the lead 16-12 just before halftime.
   
Suddenly it was game on again, but ultimately it was the New Zealanders who celebrated a monumental upset triumph.