Four new caps in Kiwi test squad
By Tony Smith - The Press
Rookie Parramatta Eels fullback Krisnan Inu is the "bolter" in the Kiwis rugby league squad to meet Australia in Friday's Anzac test in Brisbane.
Warriors props Evarn Tuimavave, 22, and Sam Rapira, 20, and Brisbane Broncos utility Greg Eastwood, 20, join Inu as the four new caps.
The Warriors front-rowers and Eastwood, who can play in the pack or at stand-off, are NRL regulars.
But Inu, 20, who can also cover centre and can kick goals, has had just one first-grade game for the Eels - against the Raiders a fortnight ago.
The new Kiwis quartet were in the New Zealand A team which thrashed an Australian invitation team in the curtain-raiser to last year's Kiwis-Kangaroos test in Melbourne.
"We're moving into a new era with Ruben (Wiki) and Nigel (Vagana) now off the test scene," Kiwis coach Brian McClennan said last night.
Inu, who hails from Sydney junior club Cabramatta, owes his promotion in part to the unavailability, of Leeds Rhinos fullback Brent Webb, who will stay in Yorkshire to be with his partner, Jenny, who has given birth to their child.
Warriors utility Lance Hohaia was also ruled out yesterday with a serious gash near his ear in the Warrior's 34-14 win over North Queensland.
The Kiwis have recalled fit-again stars Benji Marshall (stand-off) and Sonny Bill Williams (loose forward) after they missed last year's Tri-Nations series.
Bulldogs rookie Ben Roberts replaces retired veteran Stacey Jones at scrum-half.
Nine of the 19-man squad played in the Tri-Nations final against Australia, including prop Roy Asotasi - expected to be named tomorrow as Ruben Wiki's successor as Kiwis' new captain.
The Kiwis assemble in Brisbane today and the match-day 17 will be named tomorrow.
Squad - Roy Asotasi (South Sydney), Nathan Cayless (Parramatta), Greg Eastwood (Broncos), David Fa'alogo (Souths), David Faiumu (North Queensland), Dene Halatau (Wests Tigers), Krisnan Inu (Parramatta), Simon Mannering (Warriors), Benji Marshall (Wests Tigers), Frank Pritchard (Penrith), Tony Puletua (Penrith), Sam Rapira (Warriors), Ben Roberts (Bulldogs), Iosia Soliola (Sydney Roosters), Evarn Tuimavave (Warriors), Manu Vatuvei (Warriors), Jake Webster (Gold Coast), Paul Whatuira (Wests Tigers), Sonny Bill Williams (Bulldogs).
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Kangaroos captain Darren Lockyer keen on Kiwis tour
Kangaroos captain Darren Lockyer says it would be "an honour" to be called on as the Kiwis' guest player for their end-of-year British tour.
The star five-eighth is a frontrunner to be called on by coach Brian McClennan as New Zealand's guest player for their British tour to celebrate the centenary of the 1907 All Golds.
Lockyer stressed he hadn't yet been approached by the New Zealand Rugby League but said he'd give it serious thought.
NZ Herald
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Opinion: NRL hitting back with Titans By Scott Brooks
Even the staunchest fan would have to admit that in the years following the Super League war that rugby league in south-east Queensland had given up some ground to rival football codes, particularly AFL.
Broncos crowds had shrunk since the lofty heights of the early-to-mid '90s, a couple of south-east Queensland teams had been disposed of like last week's garbage, all while the AFL was lifting its profile at a rapid rate thanks to the successful Brisbane Lions and rugby union was doing likewise on the back of the 'Super' concept and the Wallabies.
But if you were one of the 47,686 fans at Suncorp Stadium last Friday night you would have to be convinced that rugby league has fully returned to its former greatness in a heartland that had been stuffed around for various reasons since 1997.
The buzz in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast in the lead-up to the inaugural Titans-Broncos clash was State of Origin-like with all forms of media saturated with coverage of the game.
Sydney fans know all too well how popular local derbies can be and this was something Brisbane league supporters had missed out on since the axing of the Chargers in 1998.
Broncos matches against the Cowboys have certainly grown in profile over the last few seasons, but due to the immense distance of the two teams it was more of a Queensland derby rather than a truly local one.
Anyone who thought rugby league starts and ends with the Broncos in south-east Queensland would have been shocked at the number of blue jerseys at the game on Friday night, easily outnumbering the maroon and gold of the reigning premier.
It was refreshing to learn that Titans fans do not exclusively come from the Gold Coast and that many people from Brisbane have taken them on board as the team to follow. People still dirty on the tragic demise of the Crushers would most definitely fit the bill of 'Brisbanites' willing to give the Titans a go.
And from what we have seen in the opening five rounds of the competition, the Titans are a team worth backing because they play an enterprising brand of football and are committed in everything they do.
Watching them put the cleaners through the Broncos on Friday night was hardly surprising if you saw them clinically dispose of the Panthers away from home just the week before.
The bonus for the Titans is the fact that all their big names have stood up when required this season. Halfback Scott Prince has been a revelation as the team's key playmaker and prop Luke Bailey is the colossus that leads a very underrated and enthusiastic pack of forwards that have outshone more illustrious opposition several times already in 2007.
Mentor John Cartwright has done a sterling job in successfully molding a bunch of strangers together in such a short space of time - not bad for a rookie NRL coach.
And speaking of people who deserve a wrap, managing director Michael Searle and his team have been justified in their decision to take a couple of the Titans' bigger matches against the Dragons and Broncos to the 52,500 capacity Suncorp Stadium.
Searle copped some criticism on the Coast for taking these games north so early in the club's existence, but the figures speak for themselves with an average of 44,358 attending both matches compared to the maximum 18,500 allowed at the Titans' current home base of Carrara.
Next season only the Broncos derby will be taken to Suncorp Stadium with all remaining matches to be played at the exciting new 25,000-capacity stadium currently being built at Robina.
And why wouldn't you ensure all future Titans-Broncos derbies remained at a facility capable of the holding the most number of fans - the people of Queensland's south-east demand it such is the high volume of rugby league interest in the area these days.
Sportal
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Super League - Three-way tie at the top
There is now a three-way tie at the top of the engage Super League after Leeds and Bradford joined St Helens at the summit thanks to wins on Sunday.
Great Britain centre Keith Senior bagged the 200th try of his career as Leeds thrashed Warrington 52-10.
The injury-hit Wolves trailed only 12-10 until just before the break but the Rhinos ran out comfortable winners, romping over for nine tries, eight converted by skipper Kevin Sinfield.
Rob Burrow (2), Brent Webb, Clinton Toopi, Danny McGuire, Gareth Ellis, Jamie Thackray and Scott Donald got the other tries for the Rhinos.
Andy Lynch and Iestyn Harris both crossed twice as Bradford claimed their first victory at Odsal in more than a month with a clinical 52-22 destruction of struggling Hull KR.
The Bulls had lost their last two home fixtures but a blistering second-half performance saw them climb level at the top of the table.
Four Bradford tries in six minutes midway through the second half confirmed a sixth successive defeat for Justin Morgan's Rovers side, who are now facing the stark realities of life in Super League after a dream start to their top-flight campaign.
Ben Harris, Dave Halley, David Solomona, Jamie Langley and Michael Platt scored the other Bulls tries, while Paul Deacon kicked eight goals.
In Sunday's other game, Huddersfield overpowered Wigan 41-16 to secure their third straight win and lift themselves off the bottom of the table.
Warrior Mark Calderwood was sin-binned after 47 minutes - a move which proved crucial to the outcome.
The home side held an 18-10 lead when Calderwood cynically fouled Stephen Wild as the second rower seemed certain to score a solo try after intercepting Thomas Leuluai's misplaced pass.
Huddersfield took full advantage against the 12 men. Paul Reilly scored after 52 minutes when Wigan's rugby union-bound full-back Chris Ashton dropped Chris Thorman's high kick near his own try-line.
Ryan Hudson also dived over while Wigan were a man short and Thorman added a penalty as the home side stormed into a 34-10 lead which they refused to surrender.
Brad Drew, Eorl Crabtree, Steven Wild and Steve Snitch got the hosts' other tries, while Thorman ended with nine successful kicks.
On Saturday, Matthew Blaymire grabbed two tries to snatch a vital point for Wakefield and put the Wildcats' play-off hopes back on track with a 22-22 draw at Harlequins.
Full-back Blaymire struck in each half to boost his tally to six tries in his last four games and help end the visitors' run of two successive defeats.
With their second home draw of the season, Harlequins missed the opportunity to go fourth and record their fourth consecutive victory.
After the confident Quins exerted the early pressure Wakefield took the lead with two tries inside the first 15 minutes.
Harlequins hit back to lead 16-10 at the break, before Wakefield dominated the second period.
At 22-22 Wakefield pushed on in search of a vital victory and Rooney came agonisingly close to snatching the points when his close-range drop goal attempt drifted just wide of the posts.
On Friday, Paul Wellens' sensational four-try masterclass killed off the French resistance from Catalans Dragons and powered St Helens to the top thanks to a 53-10 rout.
The Great Britain full-back, who was last season crowned Man of Steel after helping Saints to all three trophies with something to spare, again proved his finishing skills are as imperious as his defensive prowess.
He crossed the line four times within the space of 26 second-half minutes to settle an often-scrappy encounter in which Saints never managed to find top gear.
Hull won the battle of the season's big under-achievers 35-18 to leapfrog neighbours Hull KR in the table and pile the pressure on struggling Salford - now bottom after Huddersfield's win.
The Reds dominated the second half of the match at The Willows but paid for a dismal 23-minute spell in which they conceded four tries.
They also leaked two more tries in the last two minutes of the match to go down to their seventh defeat of the season.
Their misery was compounded by another injury to skipper Malcolm Alker, who made his comeback from torn knee medial ligaments 21 minutes into the game but was forced off again 12 minutes later.
Sporting Life
The night Benny said 'chaos'
By Paul Malone
It's these moments which separate the truly committed from the rest.
So the sooner this column starts, the sooner I can go back to trying to get myself right for next weekend's games.
I'll play through the pain from the severe bruising suffered when I crashed from my chair at the Broncos press conference last Friday night.
The heavy fall came when Wayne Bennett used the word "chaos" to describe how his team is travelling after suffering their fourth loss from five matches as defending premiers.
Asked if he would make changes to the team beaten 28-16 by the Titans, Bennett said: "We're in a bit of chaos. How can we pick next week's team when we could be struggling for players come Friday night (the trans-Tasman Test) and have to back up in 48 hours (to play Newcastle)?"
Chaos is not a Wayne Bennett word. Just like "slump" is not usually a Bennett word.
Our library system, which allows us to search for stories from Brisbane and Sydney newspapers over the course of Bennett's coaching career, records only one instance which Bennett was quoted saying anything like "chaos".
In June, 2006, he said league would become "chaotic" if refereeing continued to the trend of a match in which two penalties were awarded in a game which the Broncos actually won.
So that's how tough Bennett must see his task this week.
The under-performing Broncos players have so far got off fairly lightly from media analysis in Queensland for the slipshod nature of their performances.
That's probably because of the pressing need to do justice to the history-making start by the Titans and also marvel at the form of the Cowboys before yesterday's downer in Auckland.
In Sydney, they are still too busy mopping up the tears flowing in reaction to Andrew Johns's retirement and digging into exactly what Sonny Bill Williams got up to at a Sydney hotel with ironwoman Candice Falzon which led Williams to apologise publicly to his girlfriend.
Only the bold or the sensation-seeking will have written the Broncos off already because of the far-fetched position from which they won last year's premiership.
I won't pretend I saw that premiership coming. I didn't.
The Brisbane forwards played to a high standard and to their strengths in those finals, the last matches played by the retiring hit-up merchant Shane Webcke.
Darren Lockyer was able to give his team enough direction without the assistance of a dominating halfback.
The Broncos had a lot of help from Shaun Berrigan out of dummy-half and also in defence in the grand final.
If Berrigan's error rate against the Titans was partly understandable, given his elbow and back injuries, those were also two powerful reasons why he should not have been there in the first place.
The defending premiers have so far this season been far too reliant on Petero Civoniceva in getting the ball forward.
And it's not as if the form of the Broncos can be explained away by injuries to key players.
Historically, the numbers don't stack up for the Broncos now.
Since the NRL moved to a 24-game regular season in 2002, a top-four finish, to which all serious contenders aspire, has required at least 14 wins.
A finish in eighth place has required 12 wins on three occasions and 11 in one year. In the other year, 2002, 10 wins and a draw was good for eighth place.
So the Broncos are required to win at least 13 of their last 19 games to achieve a top-four placing.
And here's the statistical drum on the Broncos' recent record during the representative season. Last year they won five of their nine matches during the period starting with the trans-Tasman Test and ending the week after the State of Origin series.
In 2005 they exceeded their traditional mid-season results by winning nine of 10 matches. But in 2004 they won six out of 10.
So if the Broncos muster average results over the course of the rep season, they will have to stage one of the best post-Origin finishes in the club's history to make the top four.
Unfortunately, some of Bennett's players will go off to Test duty this week thinking they are playing well.
Only Justin Hodges would know if he is one. In almost every game this year he has made opponents look like rag dolls, only to also turn in his customary one or two howlers - such as the two defensive mistakes which the Titans turned into two tries.
But if anyone wants me in Test week, I'll be getting over the night Wayne Bennett said "chaos".
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Broncos flops hold Test spots
By Stuart Honeysett
Australia coach Ricky Stuart isn't worried about the Broncos' domination of the Kangaroos team to face New Zealand in the trans-Tasman Test despite the fact the out-of-form premiers have won only one game this season.
Six players chosen in the team to face the Kiwis at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on Friday night are Broncos, with selectors for the most part sticking with the players that did the job for them in last year's Tri-Nations series.
Apart from the injured Mark Gasnier (chest), Greg Inglis (knee) and Luke O'Donnell (hamstring), the only player from last year's final to genuinely miss out was Bulldogs prop Mark O'Meley.
Selectors have shown faith in a Brisbane side down on confidence and although Darren Lockyer, Petero Civoniceva, Justin Hodges and Karmichael Hunt were never in doubt, Brent Tate and Shaun Berrigan are lucky to retain their spots.
The Broncos' only win this season has come against the bottom-of-the-table Sydney Roosters, prompting coach Wayne Bennett to say after Friday night's loss to the Gold Coast he would be surprised if Brisbane was heavily represented in the national team.
However, Stuart said he had a lot of faith in the players who won the Tri-Nations series final 16-12 in golden point to restore Australia's mantle as world champion.
"You look at Petero Civoniceva, Karmichael ... Justin Hodges is probably the best centre in the game at the moment, Brent Tate there ... they're good footballers and individually they're playing well," Stuart said.
"I personally don't think the Broncos' results have got anything to do with those individuals we've picked. Those individuals are going OK."
O'Meley appears to have paid a heavy price after missing last Saturday night's loss to Manly, with a one-match suspension for dropping knees on Titans captain Scott Prince the previous round.
However, his loss was the Gold Coast's gain after workaholic front rower Luke Bailey was included at O'Meley's expense, after missing last year's Tri-Nations series though injury.
Other players who could consider themselves a little unlucky are Newcastle hooker Danny Buderus and Sydney Roosters fullback Anthony Minichiello.
Buderus was the Test hooker, until personal reasons made him give up his spot to Cameron Smith in the Tri-Nations series, while a serious back injury to Minichiello last year handed Hunt his opportunity.
There has also been a strong push for in-form North Queensland fullback Matt Bowen, although he was always going to struggle and did his cause no good yesterday when the Cowboys were demolished by the New Zealand-based Warriors.
"Matt Bowen is a great football player and I think (Manly's) Brett Stewart could be as disappointed," Stuart said.
"And you've also got to look at the person Karmichael Hunt replaced, through an unfortunate situation, in Anthony Minichiello.
"So when you have great football players like Matty Bowen, Mark O'Meley ... when you have those players missing out, you know you're picking an Australian team."
Stuart said he, and the selectors, hadn't forgotten the job Hunt had done for the Kangaroos when he made his debut against the Kiwis in the Anzac Test match last season.
Hunt's New Zealand heritage was called into question by the Kiwis before the game and he was on the end of several big hits, including one by Penrith backrower Frank Pritchard that ended his night.
"A couple of times, he had to bring the ball out of his own in-goal and he used his size and power," Stuart said.
"He got bashed around quite a lot and he kept coming back, until he physically got knocked out.
"That day showed me that boy has a lot of courage."
The loss of Gasnier, Inglis and O'Donnell through injury triggered selection and positional changes, with Newcastle's Steve Simpson winning a bench spot after injury kept him out last year.
Sea Eagles centre Jamie Lyon comes in to replace Gasnier, while Matt King gets a chance to make up for the pain of sitting out last year's Tri-Nations series final.
Sydney Roosters forward Anthony Tupou, selected on the bench, will play against the Raiders at Canberra Stadium tonight before joining the rest of the team in Brisbane tomorrow.
The only injury concern is Smith, who twisted his knee in Melbourne's win over St George Illawarra on Saturday night.
The Australian
Hunt, Smith retain Test jerseysIncumbent full-back Karmichael Hunt has held off challenges from North Queensland's Matt Bowen and former Test number one Anthony Minichiello to be named in the Kangaroos side to take on New Zealand in the annual ANZAC Test in Brisbane on Friday night.
Hunt is one of six Broncos named in the squad, including Brent Tate on the wing and Shaun Berrigan on the interchange bench, while Cameron Smith has retained his spot at hooker despite a knee injury scare and the return of Danny Buderus.
Cronulla back rower Greg Bird missed out on a representative call-up despite recent good form, with coach Ricky Stuart preferring Andrew Ryan in the back row.
Meanwhile, Brent Kite has a won a starting spot in the front row alongside Petero Civoniceva, Titans co-captain Luke Bailey has been named on the interchange while Manly recruit Jamie Lyon takes his place next to Justin Hodges in the centres at the expense of Dragons three-quarter Matt Cooper.
Kangaroos squad: Karmichael Hunt (Broncos), Brent Tate (Broncos), Jamie Lyon (Sea Eagles), Justin Hodges (Broncos), Matt King (Storm), Darren Lockyer [c] (Broncos), Johnathan Thurston (Cowboys), Brent Kite (Sea Eagles), Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm), Petero Civoniceva (Broncos), Willie Mason (Bulldogs), Nathan Hindmarsh (Eels), Andrew Ryan (Bulldogs);
Interchange - Luke Bailey (Titans), Shaun Berrigan (Broncos), Steve Simpson (Knights), Anthony Tupou (Roosters).
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