Bennett’s brushing off defeat
WAYNE BENNETT refused to blame his players despite this crushing final-Test defeat at Elland Road.
The Kiwis’ biggest win over England for 18 years took the gloss off the 2-1 series win for Bennett’s men.
But Bennett said: “We have to keep in perspective that we’ve played two great games and played some great football, and that is why we won the series.
“New Zealand played their best game today and their most disciplined but we are going in the right direction.”
England were missing more than a dozen players who starred in last year’s World Cup and the opening games of this series.
Bennett said: “You never see a scoreline like that coming but it happens and I understand it better than most.
“We have a lot of players injured but we’ve got a healthy squad.”
Tommy Makinson could not repeat his hat-trick heroics of last week but was named Man of the Series. The winger, who had two tries disallowed, said: “It has been a special series but we were not at the races today.
“We knew the Kiwis would come for us but we just did not turn up. They showed their class and were at their best, and we weren’t.”
Wigan centre Oliver Gildart, matchwinner in the first Test, also had a first-half try disallowed. But those three missed chances summed up the match: England were off key, New Zealand ruthless.
Relieved Kiwi coach Michael Maguire said: “We needed that. We worked really hard to get it.”
It took the tourists five minutes for Ken Maumalo to step past Jermaine McGillvary and Jonny Lomax. The try stemmed from a terrific offload by Jared WaereaHargreaves.
Jamayne Isaako also had an effort disallowed but New Zealand were starting to ride a wave. Isaac Liu brushed off Elliott Whitehead for their next try then man of the match Kodi Nikorima started and finished a 40-metre move before Shaun Johnson added a third goal.
Maumalo gave the Kiwis a flying start to the second half and when McGillvary was sin-binned with 11 minutes to go, Jesse Bromwich and Joseph Tapine also went over.
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