Bennett still confident England on track
LEEDS: Wayne Bennett remains confident his England team are still on the right track despite a 340 thrashing at the hands of New Zealand in the third test.
England won the first two tests in tight encounters, in Hull and Anfield, but was blown off the park in the final match by a rampant Kiwi outfit in Leeds.
Kodi Nikorima ran the show and Ken Maumalo finished with a double in a powerful New Zealand performance.
But veteran Australian coach Bennett was unconcerned, as his England side was missing a raft of key players through injury and suspension such as George Burgess, Sam Tomkins and captain Sean O’Loughlin, along with NRL stars Sam Burgess and Gareth Widdop.
‘‘It’s not taken the gloss off the series win, not for me personally,’’ he said.
‘‘I wasn’t happy with the performance but I accepted what happened and understand probably better than most. You never see a scoreline [like] that coming, but it happens.
‘‘[It was down to] probably a combination of things, injuries, being at our best for a couple of weeks, we didn’t have a lot of luck.
‘‘I walked into the change room and there’s Sean O’Loughlin, Sam Tomkins and George Burgess were all looking at me. We had a stack missing as it was and that just added to our problems.
‘‘The boys overcame a lot of stuff in this series.’’
England has beaten New Zealand three times out of four encounters this year, having a victory in Denver in June, as well as accounting for France last month.
It had pushed Australia hard in last year’s World Cup final, but now will not face the Kangaroos until 2020.
‘‘We’re going in the right direction,’’ Bennett maintained.
‘‘New Zealand have got quality players, they all play in the NRL. Today was their best game.’’
Kiwis coach Michael Maguire admitted he could see a dominant display coming from his squad.
‘‘I thought the boys have definitely been growing to a performance of that calibre and I’m really pleased [that] defensively we were very strong,’’ he said.
‘‘I felt that when we first came into camp. We missed an opportunity I think [in the first two tests].
‘‘That’s something that is a big thing . . . we’ve definitely grown. I’ve got a lot of belief in this group . . . We’re building in a big way.’’
The Kiwis started strongly at Elland Road and took the lead after just four minutes through Maumalo.
It was a bruising opening period, and several high shots went unpunished by referee Gerard Sutton.
England had three tries ruled out by the video referee, and eight minutes before halftime Isaac Liu broke through under the posts after running a great line off Nikorima.
The Brisbane playmaker was causing havoc and right on halftime he burst through the line, found Johnson in support and then took the return ball for a brilliant try to make it 180.
In the second half, New Zealand continued where it left off, Maumalo grabbing his second try off a Nikorima kick just four minutes in.
Both teams were reduced to 12 men at stages, as Jared WaereaHargreaves and Jermaine McGillvary sinbinned for professional fouls.
The Kiwis turned the screws in the dying stages, with Jesse Bromwich and Joe Tapine both touching down. — AAP