Great Britain 20 New Zealand 14!
Well, at least they didn’t schedule it to clash with whatever it was the union people were doing. What a match, though – like inhaling espresso compared to the ‘tothersiders. It had it all – tension! speed! spectacle! Sam Burgess, the 18-year old bolter, had a damn good game and eventually scored a crash-over try charging onto a pop up from Leon Pryce….but also very nearly did an Adrian Morley, being put on report for a sickening neck tackle immediately before scoring.
Speaking of Adrian Morley, he had a storming game. As did Sean O’Loughlin, standing in for Kevin Sinfield. And Gareth Raynor, who scored a positively illegal try, racing 50 yards to touch down a kick from Rob Burrow under the Kiwi fullback’s fingers. In fact, GB rather reminded me of the sort of New Zealand team I remember; bloody good, if in a sort of chaotic way.
Just the kind of athletic back-line running the England Union side could have done with, in fact.
(Taught how to play by Ellis Devlin, Salford RL hooker back in the day.)
Morley is a grotesque thug, though, really.
He can play a bit though. Still can’t overcome the thuggery even so.