Great Britain has defeated New Zealand 20-14 in Huddersfield to take a 1-0 series lead in a pretty average match without any real highlights.
New Zealand were the better side over the course of the game but gifted Great Britain 6 points with a horrible mistake in goal by Sam Perrett that allowed British winger Gareth Raynor to swoop in for an easy try.
The Kiwi’s were also not helped in the goal kicking stakes with Lance Hohaia kicking just 1 or his 4 attempts at goal.
A lot of interest surrounded Samoan Maurie Fa’asavalu making his debut for Great Britain and quite frankly, his impact wasn’t enough to warrant crapping on 112 years of British Rugby League history to get him into the side.
The fact that you could hear the disdain in British legend Mike Stephenson’s voice when the subject was brought up said it all.
I couldn’t go past Paul Whatuira for Man Of The Match. He was deadly all night, he came up with a good, determined try and looked the player on the park most likely to break the game open.
In true British spirit, the official Man Of The Match award went to Rob Burrow, who didnt do much of anything during the contest.
Great Britain were lucky to get this win and I think the Kiwi’s even during the match showed a heck of a lot of improvement. I’m still tipping them to take the series over a British/Samoan side that just doesn’t offer a great deal.
