Sitting in the Suncorp Stadium media box at halftime in the Anzac test last year, it was hard to know what was more extraordinary: the scoreboard - that read New Zealand 26 Australia 6 - or the reaction of the local journalists.
Almost to a man they had given up
on their team.
We had just witnessed one of the great Kiwis performances, and their shock was understandable. The Kangaroos, looking to continue their stranglehold on the Anzac test, had led 6-0 after 20 minutes from a Sam Thaiday try. Then the mayhem started, as the Kiwis crossed for four tries before halftime. There was a brace to Manu Vatuvei, a trademark individual effort by Shaun Johnson and a long range team try finished off by Shaun Kenny-Dowall near the posts. And there could have been two or three more, as New Zealand, off the back of a ferocious forward effort, constantly bent the Kangaroos' defensive line.
It wasn't supposed to be like that. New Zealand hadn't won an Anzac test since 1998. There was cautious optimism after Stephen Kearney's men had triumphed in the 2014 Four Nations but, as the Aussie scribes had pointed out regularly, that was against a weakened Kangaroos squad.
The incomparable Jonathan Thurston was back for the Anzac test, as were the likes of Michael Jennings and James Tamou. But the result was more emphatic than anyone could have imagined.
