Great Britain and Ireland vs New Zealand Kiwis *results added*

[DIEHARD]

New Zealand Kiwi 18-man team

Vinnie ANDERSON (St Helens)
Monty BETHAM (Wakefield Trinity)
Alex CHAN (Les Catalans)
Henry FA'AFILI (Warrington)
Harrison HANSEN (Wigan)
Shontayne HAPE (Bradford)
Stacey JONES (C) (Les Catalans)
David KIDWELL (Melbourne)
Ali LAUITI'ITI (Leeds)
Iafeta PALEAAESINA (Wigan)
Robbie PAUL (Huddersfield)
Willy POCHING (Leeds)
Ben ROBERTS (Canterbury)
David SOLOMONA (Wakefield)
Willie TALAU (St Helens)
Motu TONY (Hull)
Clinton TOOPI (Warriors
Lesley VAINIKOLO (Bradford)

Great Britain and Ireland Lions 18-man team

P Sculthorpe (St Helens, capt)
S O'Loughlin (Wigan)
T Newton (Bradford)
J Pea**** (Leeds)
L Gilmour (St Helens)
D McGuire (Leeds)
J Graham (St Helens)
R Burrow (Leeds)
P Wellens (St Helens)
A Gardner (St Helens)
M Gleeson (Warrington)
K Senior (Leeds)
L Pryce (St Helens)
S Long (St Helens)
S Fielden (Wigan)
K Cunningham (St Helens)
A Morley (Sydney Roosters)
G Ellis (Leeds)

Kick off is only hours away.

[DIEHARD]

I'm going for the Lions but I think New Zealand will beat them by 16 or more.

[Bradford_Bully]

Great Britain overcame the early loss of captain Paul Sculthorpe to rack up a record points victory over Tri-Nations champions New Zealand at Knowsley Road.
Debutant James Graham, Danny McGuire and Sean Long all scored a try each in both halves as Britain grabbed eight in all to put down a Tri-Nations marker.

Lesley Vainikolo scored the opening try for the Kiwis but the hosts were 18-4 up by half-time and well in command.

Keith Senior and debutant wing Ade Gardner also scored after the interval.

Long landed six goals from seven attempts in a dominant display as the Lions surpassed the 38 points they recorded against New Zealand at Huddersfield in last year's Tri-Nations.

A lapse in concentration allowed Iafeta Paleaasaesina to score a second for the Kiwis with 15 minutes left, before further tries from Gardner and Long reasserted Britain's dominance.

New Zealand had the last word with a try for Warrington winger Henry Fa'afili, but the under-strength visitors were comprehensively beaten.

They started well when Stacey Jones launched a high kick in the direction of debutant Gardner.

The Saints winger was brushed aside in the air by Vainikolo, who collected the ball to touch down.

Debutant Kiwi stand-off Ben Roberts missed the goal - and that was about as good as it got for the visitors.

Britain were level by the seventh minute as McGuire raced onto Long's pass, dummied inside Jones and weaved outside Clinton Toopi for a classy try.

Sculthorpe's conversion put his side in front, but the captain - finally leading the side for the first time after being made skipper a year ago - was cruelly forced off with knee ligament damage after 16 minutes.

Keiron Cunningham had already had another try ruled out when 20-year-old Graham entered the fray in the 25th minute.

Barely a minute later the young Saints prop showed exactly why he is so highly rated with an angled run to finish off a score created by Terry Newton.

Newton was also at the heart of the next try, fending off three Kiwis before off-loading to the outstanding Paul Wellens, who sent Long racing through the middle from halfway.

Long converted both to give Britain a commanding 18-4 lead - and it might have been more with Gardner denied a try when Martin Gleeson's pass was adjudged marginally forward.

Britain started the second half on the defensive but kept the Kiwis out before Wellens stepped into the line to send Senior over after 47 minutes.

The full-back then sent Graham through for his second after Long's cleverly weighted chip.

When McGuire stepped between two defenders to put Britain 34-4 ahead in the 53rd minute, the game was already up.



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Great Britain: P Wellens (St Helens), A Gardner (St Helens), M Gleeson (Warrington), K Senior (Leeds), L Pryce (St Helens), D McGuire (Leeds), S Long (St Helens); S Fielden (Wigan), K Cunningham (St Helens), A Morley (Sydney Roosters), J Pea**** (Leeds), G Ellis (Leeds), P Sculthorpe (St Helens, capt).
Replacements: T Newton (Bradford), S O'Loughlin (Wigan), L Gilmour (St Helens), J Graham (St Helens).

New Zealand: C Toopi (New Zealand Warriors), L Vainikolo (Bradford), S Hape (Bradford), W Talau (St Helens), H Fa'afili (Warrington), B Roberts (Canterbury), S Jones (Catalans, capt); A Chan (Catalans), M Tony (Hull), I Paleaasaesina (Wigan), A Lauitiiti (Leeds), D Solomona (Wakefield), D Kidwell (Melbourne).
Replacements: R Paul (Huddersfield), H Hansen (Wigan), V Anderson (St Helens), M Betham (Wakefield).

Referee: S Clark (Australia).

[Teegy]

intersting to see Toopi played fullback. Tony has experiance at fullback and that would have allowed paul or anderson to start

[Dakink]

Does this mean that the Kiwi's are #1, #2 or #3 on the international ladder?

[Go_The_Doggies]

=(

I was gunna watch all this match, but im sick & feel asleep and only saw 10-15 minutes of it.

From what i saw Benny Roberts wasnt having such a good time with his boot =(

[Supergoose]

This result show that for the good of international Rugby League the ESL and NRL need to work on scheduling to ensure the best players are available for both GB and NZ. Perhaps their could be 2 matches scheduled for the same week as SOO matches and all of the players selected are forced to miss the lead up game like SOO players are. I don't think this would detract from SOO and would provide the highest standard game for the NZ and English players who aren't eligible for SOO.

[DIEHARD]

Regardless of how New Zealand went, I was very happy the Lions went well.

Let's face it come the end of the year, we know the Kiwis will give it to us, the Lions are the real danger of being limp. We ca't afford that to happen to the Tri Nations.

Hopefully next year we can get a test match with the support and respect it deserves, it is unacceptable to allow this sort of thing to happen, with player personel.

[qld power]

intersting go the doggies i saw most the game after work on vid and think roberts played a good game pfft that team was a joke only kidwell and maybe jones if hes avaiable would be in full strength kiwi team

[Manly Boy]

I'm going for the kiwi's and i hope they have a good win...

[Teegy]

I'm going for the kiwi's and i hope they have a good win...

they got hammered 46-14 and it was played a week ago