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Australia v New Zealand

Australia v New Zealand
Australia will go into tomorrow’s Rugby League World Cup final against New Zealand without Steve Price after the prop tore his left calf muscle in a training session.

The Kangaroos will probably promote Brent Kite in place of Price, while Brent Tate will also miss out on the final having suffered a hip injury.

New Zealand have named the same side which defeated England in last week’s semi final, Nathan Cayless and Sika Manu having avoided suspensions for high tackles.

Kiwi coach Stephen Kearney moved Thomas Leuluai from scrum half to hooker leaving Nathan Fien in the halves, and Australian hooker Cameron Smith thought the changes had worked well for New Zealand.

“I think his shift there is because of the way Nathan Fien is playing at half,” said Smith.

“He's obviously started in the dummy-half role but he's playing exceptionally well in the halves and I think that's the way it's worked out best for the Kiwis.

“Leuluai is a very good player and a lot of dummy-half players these days are ex-half-backs anyway. He's a great player and we're not going to be exploiting him more than any other player.”

“Although we've beaten them once in this tournament already, it's going to be a totally different story on Saturday.

“As soon as we finished the game against Fiji, we spoke about putting all the past games behind us. They won't really mean much this week.”

Kearney felt his players would have to improve to beat Australia, saying, “The Kangaroos have some wonderful players and they've played some fantastic football during the tournament so far.

“While we know we'll need to be a lot better against Australia, we're excited with the opportunity we have. We don't want to have any regrets on Saturday night.”

Australia will claim their tenth World Cup should they win, while for New Zealand it would be their first ever World Cup win.

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Stats

vs
Round: 6 Fri 12 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 6 Fri 12 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 6 Fri 12 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 6 Sat 13 Mar 17:30
vs
Round: 6 Sat 13 Mar 18:30
vs
Round: 6 Sun 14 Mar 14:00
28 - 24
New Craven Park Sun 7th March
46 - 12
Halliwell Jones Stadium Sun 7th March
0 - 52
Belle Vue Sat 6th March
42 - 22
The KC Stadium Fri 5th March
12 - 24
The Willows Fri 5th March
62 - 4
Headingley Carnegie Fri 5th March
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Wigan 5 4 0 1 8
2 Warrington 5 4 0 1 8
3 Hull FC 5 4 0 1 8
4 Huddersfield 5 3 0 2 6
5 Leeds 5 3 0 2 6
6 St Helens 5 3 0 2 6
7 Bradford 5 3 0 2 6
8 Hull K R 5 3 0 2 6
9 Wakefield 5 3 0 2 6
10 Crusaders 5 2 0 3 4
11 Castleford 5 1 0 4 2
12 Catalans 5 1 0 4 2
13 Harlequins 5 1 0 4 2
14 Salford 5 0 0 5 0
vs
Round: 2 Thu 11 Mar 19:30
vs
Round: 2 Sat 13 Mar 18:00
vs
Round: 2 Sun 14 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 2 Sun 14 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 2 Sun 14 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 3 Thu 18 Mar 19:30
20 - 20
LSV Thu 25th February
32 - 26
The Shay Sun 28th February
36 - 10
Chris Moyles Stadium Sun 28th February
72 - 10
Stobart Stadium Sun 28th February
26 - 22
Sun 28th February
24 - 34
Mount Pleasant Thu 11th March
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Halifax 2 2 0 0 6
2 Widnes 1 1 0 0 3
3 Featherstone 1 1 0 0 3
4 Toulouse 1 1 0 0 3
5 Barrow 1 0 1 0 2
6 Leigh 1 0 1 0 2
7 Dewsbury 1 0 0 1 1
8 Sheffield 1 0 0 1 1
9 Batley 2 0 0 2 1
10 Whitehaven 0 0 0 0 0
11 Keighley * 1 0 0 1 -9
vs
Round: 2 Fri 12 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 12 Fri 12 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 2 Sun 14 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 2 Sun 14 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 2 Sun 14 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 3 Sat 20 Mar 15:00
40 - 12
South Leeds Stadium Sun 28th February
20 - 38
Sedgley Park Sun 28th February
56 - 24
Spotland Stadium Sun 28th February
36 - 8
Huntington Stadium Sun 28th February
22 - 20
Sun 28th February
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Rochdale 1 1 0 0 3
2 Hunslet 1 1 0 0 3
3 York 1 1 0 0 3
4 Oldham 1 1 0 0 3
5 South 1 1 0 0 3
6 Workington 1 0 0 1 1
7 Blackpool 0 0 0 0 0
8 Swinton 1 0 0 1 0
9 London 1 0 0 1 0
10 Doncaster 1 0 0 1 0
11 Gateshead 1 0 0 1 -6
vs
Round: 4 Wed 10 Mar 18:00
vs
Round: 4 Wed 10 Mar
vs
Round: 4 Wed 17 Mar 19:30
vs
Round: 4 Sun 21 Mar
34 - 12
Huntington Stadium Wed 10th March
62 - 18
Craven Park Wed 10th March
0 - 68
South Leeds Stadium Thu 4th March
22 - 44
Tetley's Stadium Wed 3rd March
56 - 10
Chris Moyles Stadium Tue 23rd February
22 - 24
Boundary Park Mon 22nd February
vs
Round 1 Fri, 12 Mar 19:35 Suncorp Stadium
vs
Round 1 Fri, 12 Mar 19:35 Parramatta Stadium
vs
Round 1 Sat, 13 Mar 17:30 ANZ Stadium
vs
Round 1 Sat, 13 Mar 19:30 CUA Stadium, Penrith
vs
Round 1 Sat, 13 Mar 19:30 Toyota Stadium
vs
Round 1 Sun, 14 Mar 13:00 Skilled Park
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Dragons 0 0 0 0 0
1 Sharks 0 0 0 0 0
1 Wests 0 0 0 0 0
1 Broncos 0 0 0 0 0
1 Bulldogs 0 0 0 0 0
1 Roosters 0 0 0 0 0
1 Rabbitohs 0 0 0 0 0
1 Storm 0 0 0 0 0
1 Cowboys 0 0 0 0 0
1 Panthers 0 0 0 0 0
1 Knights 0 0 0 0 0
1 Sea Eagles 0 0 0 0 0
1 Eels 0 0 0 0 0
1 Raiders 0 0 0 0 0
1 Warriors 0 0 0 0 0
1 Titans 0 0 0 0 0
vs
Round 1 Mar 12 5:20pm Suncorp Stadium
vs
Round 1 Mar 12 5:20pm Parramatta Stadium
vs
Round 1 Mar 13 3:15pm ANZ Stadium
vs
Round 1 Mar 13 5:15pm CUA Stadium, Penrith
vs
Round 1 Mar 13 5:15pm Toyota Stadium
vs
Round 1 Mar 14 10:45am Skilled Park

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