Four Nations: Out-enthused, relieved NZ soaks up lessons

Shaun Kenny-Dowall scores the winner in Whangarei. Photo / Getty Images

Like the rest of his team, the overwhelming emotion for Kiwis centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall last night was relief.

The Kiwis had been out-passioned, out-enthused and mostly out played by the Samoans yesterday, but somehow escaped with a victory, along with two vital tournament points.

Kenny-Dowall had a poor game by his standards. He didn't make much impact on attack and struggled to contain barnstorming Samoan centre Joey Leilua, who he admitted was "awesome, very solid".

Leilua produced one of the plays of the game with a frightening display of power in the 44th minute. Receiving the ball 15 metres from the Kiwis line, Leilua knocked Kenny-Dowall clean off his feet with a huge fend before powering through three more defenders to score. The Roosters centre cut a dejected figure for a period but redeemed himself by crossing for the winning try with just four minutes to play.

"It was a relief [to score] but it wasn't over," said Kenny-Dowall. "They fought right to the end. It was a disappointing performance but good to get away with the win. [We] held our heads under pressure and we were able to come away with it."

For sustained periods of the second half it looked a long road back for the Kiwis. Only some last ditch defence - and a lack of composure from the Pacific team - stopped them scoring a fourth try, which would have surely sealed the game. And when the Kiwis did retain possession, they were often bunched around the ball, no one particularly keen to run into the punishing Samoan defence.

"I was bloody nervous with about 15 minutes to go," admitted Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney. "I was always confident if we stuck to our process and got enough field position we would create opportunities but ... if you want to call it getting out of jail you can."

Kiwis vice-captain Kieran Foran, who suffered a corked thigh and was a shattered figure at the end of the match, was equally worried; "It was getting a bit nervy," agreed Foran. "With 10 minutes to go, I was starting to wonder if we were going to get over the line - we were denied over and over again."

The Kiwis finally gained some ascedency in the last 15 minutes. Jason Taumalolo and Tohu Harris were particularly prominent, while Manu Vatuvei played like a vital seventh forward yesterday with some powerful, surging runs.

Ahead of today's game between Australia and England (6pm NZT) all four teams can still mathematically make the final, though the Kiwis are in the box seat to feature in Wellington in two weeks' time.

"We are two steps into a tournament and we have two wins but [this performance] tells me we have still got a long way to go," said Kearney. "We set the bar pretty high last week and today was a good lesson for us if we want to go places."

New Zealand host England next Saturday in Dunedin (8pm) with Samoa facing Australia in Wollongong.