Wellington: Shaun Kenny-Dowall saved New Zealand with a late try to seal a 14-12 victory over Samoa in their Four Nations clash on Saturday to all but ensure a berth in the rugby league tournament final.
New Zealand started as hot favourites after downing Australia last week but found themselves outplayed by a Samoa side chasing their first win over any of the major rugby league nations.
The Samoans, many of them New Zealand-born, controlled most of the game at Toll Stadium in Whangarei, north of Auckland, and were ahead for 60 minutes until Kenny-Dowall’s match-winning touchdown with just five minutes to spare.
“They [Samoa] played a great game and we didn’t match them,” New Zealand captain Simon Mannering conceded as he blamed complacency for an error-strewn Kiwi performance.
“We weren’t playing with patience out there. Everyone was guilty of it. We wanted to improve throughout the tournament but that was definitely a few steps backwards.”
A dejected Samoan captain David Fa’alogo could not hide his frustration at watching the chance of a historic victory slip away.
“I’m very disappointed,” he said. “I’m proud of our players. They put in a massive effort and didn’t come away with the reward that we wanted.
“I thought in the last six minutes momentum went towards the Kiwis and they managed to get a few passes together to get the try.”
If England, who narrowly downed Samoa in the first round, beat Australia in Melbourne on Sunday, then the two unbeaten sides will be the confirmed finalists with a round to spare.
However, should Australia win then the finalists will not be decided until after next weekend when Australia play Samoa and England play New Zealand.
After a slow start against Australia, the Kiwis had focused on dominating from the start against Samoa but instead found themselves on the backfoot from the opening whistle.
Fired up after going close to upsetting England last week, Samoa were on the board in the fifth minute when Tautau Moga scored an 80-metre try from an intercept.
A try to Keiran Foran and a Shaun Johnson goal gave New Zealand a brief lead until Daniel Vidot scored Samoa’s second try to have them ahead 8-6.
They pulled further away at 12-6 early in the second spell when Joey Leilua crossed after felling Kenny-Dowall with a powerful fend.
It took New Zealand until the 63rd minute to breach the solid Samoan defensive wall for a second time when Jason Nightingale scored in the corner and Kenny-Dowall sealed the outcome with five minutes remaining.
