Kiwis told to keep focus
Kiwis assistant coach Ben Gardiner says the team have addressed the poor end to the test against Australia ahead of their series opener against England this weekend.
New Zealand’s 26-24 win over the Kangaroos a fortnight ago was a memorable win, but the final score was too close to comfort, with Australia scoring 12 points in the last 13 minutes.
For the Kiwis to continue to improve, they need to hold out the opposition late in games when leading and, in what is expected to be a tight series against England, playing to a high level for 80 minutes will be crucial.
Gardiner, the only coach left in the Kiwis setup from last year’s disastrous World Cup campaign, said players have been spoken to about keeping switched on at the end of tests.
‘‘In professional sport, you address all areas and make sure all things are topped off,’’ Gardiner told Stuff.
‘‘We’ve looked at focus and focusing for the whole 80 minutes is important for us as a team.
‘‘We’ve addressed that and some other facets around that, where we went away from what we were doing really well in the early part of the game.
‘‘We’ve have those conversations to make sure we knuckle down at the end of a game and don’t have those sorts of things happen again.’’
There may have been plenty of euphoria around the Kiwis after the win over Australia and the team will aim to take that into the England series.
However, Gardiner says there’s still room for improvement and the coaches are looking for the team to build over the three-test series against England.
‘‘The tour is about getting better with every match,’’ he said.
‘‘The start of the tour was in Auckland and we had a good performance there, without having an outstanding one.
‘‘We work with a growth mindset, where we want to grow as the tour goes along and be at our absolute best by the last test.
‘‘For us, every game is about being better than the one before.
So we take the opportunity that we had against Australia and we try to build on that opportunity.’’
Even with just one test with the current squad together it’s proved to be an astute move to make Dallin Watene-Zelezniak the team’s captain.
The fullback was outstanding against Australia and has handled the extra off-field responsibilities superbly.
‘‘He’s been fantastic,’’ Gardiner said. ‘‘He’s still only a young man, but he’s particularly mature.
‘‘Obviously he’s got some life experiences there, having his own children and family, so for
Dallin, this is all about his extended family and he does play with pride.
‘‘This is something he doesn’t take lightly, he takes it as something that’s not only important to himself and his family, but also to his country.
‘‘He’s building and there are leadership people here with him to help him in the background, but Dallin is a born leader.’’
England coach Wayne Bennett has named an experienced 19-man squad for Saturday’s (Sunday NZT) clash in Hull, with former Warriors fullback Sam Tomkins returning to play his first test in four years.
NRL stars George and Tom Burgess (Souths), Josh Hodgson and Elliott Whitehead (Raiders) and James Graham (Dragons) are also included.