The Kiwis have won their Rugby League World Cup opener against Lebanon 34-12 in Warrington in a match notable for the overall excellence of fullback Joseph Manu and a red card for Cedars’ standoff Adam Doueihi.
Doueihi was sent off in the second half for dissent shown towards referee Grant Atkins, a confusing state of affairs – the incident, which occurred after a Lebanon re-start, appeared benign – that the official clearly felt strongly about.
The commentary team later said Doueihi was sent off for “foul and abusive language” and will presumably face a suspension.
It was one of several odd decisions by the match officials, but, after conceding the first try in each half there was no doubt about the Kiwis’ quality against an obdurate and occasionally surprising opposition.
With Manu increasingly influential, and the Bromwich brothers Kenny and Jesse, along with big prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona, providing the starch up front to tire Lebanon, the Kiwis took control in scoring three unanswered tries to go out to a 18-6 halftime lead.
It was Josh Mansour who had opened the scoring for Lebanon with a try after a minute which appeared to include a Lebanon knock-on, but after the Kiwis had worked out the Cedars’ penchant for short re-starts and wide kicking game, they gradually took control, scoring six tries in total.
Coached by former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, now also the coach of the Argentina national rugby side, Lebanon, made up mainly of Australian residents, aimed to thwart and disrupt and they initially did it well before the Kiwis’ quality began revealing itself.
Manu was the Kiwis’ best attacker and indeed the best runner on the field, and his try in the second half after regathering a chip kick and beating three or four defenders was a classic.
“I felt like we were a bit scrappy tonight, Lebanon was a good side, too,” Manu said afterwards as he was presented with the man of the match award. “We have a few things to work on and definitely need to improve.
“It felt a bit rushed at the start and the lack of combinations showed, but we’re still confident of what we can achieve at this tournament.”
Coached by Michael Maguire, the Kiwis, ranked the world’s No.1 team, will be relatively content with their performance at the Halliwell Jones Stadium but may feel slightly frustrated at their points differential which was perhaps lower than expected.
All of their big tournament rivals, including Australia and England, enjoyed big victories over the opening weekend. Ireland top New Zealand's pool due to their big win against Jamaica.
“We can take a few lessons from this Lebanon team, they did really well at the start,” Maguire said. “I thought we lacked intensity at the start.
“I thought we were very clunky at times.”
Cheika, a former assistant coach at the Sydney Roosters, said: “We delivered on a lot of the things that we wanted to… we have a good kicking game but we lost the kick chase a few times.
“Of course Joey Manu, you love him at the Roosters but you don’t like him at the Kiwis, too bloody good, he is.”
The Kiwis’ next assignment is against Jamaica in Hull next Sunday morning NZT.
New Zealand 34 (Kenny Bromwich, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Peta Hiku, Danny Brown, Joey Manu, Jordan Rapana tries; Jordan Rapana 5 goals)
Lebanon 12 (Josh Mansour, Abbas Miski tries; Mitchell Moses goal)
Halftime: 18-6
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