Stacey pulls strings to tear Britain apart

Great Britain 26 New Zealand 4

"We were very, very rusty in the first half," admitted the British coach Brian Noble. "It's important that we bounce back and the only way we can do that is by being honest."

Brian Carney, the British vice-captain and a star of last year's tournament, endured an absolute nightmare that saw him replaced before the end, but he was not alone in being found wanting on the night.

"We talked about putting a performance on and we didn't," said Noble. "They were better than us tonight."

This exciting, expansive Kiwi team were always the more dangerous and creative with the ball and, even when they went into one of their characteristic slumps at the start of the second half, they had the willpower to steady themselves before they lost the initiative.

"What I am proud of is that we kept playing footy," said their coach Brian McClennan. "Sometimes you can choke up a bit, but we had the courage to keep passing the ball."

No one typified that attitude better than Stacey Jones, but he could be out of the equation when the two teams meet again.

Stuart Fielden took the charge to New Zealand early on, winning two penalties. From the second Paul Deacon put Great Britain ahead. But from that promising start, the wheels immediately came flying off.

From the kick-off, Kevin Sinfield tried an ill-advised pass off the ground which Jamie Peacock knocked on. From the resulting scrum, Jones used Nigel Vagana as a decoy and sent Brent Webb through the gap. Three minutes later the Kiwis opened up the defence again, Wakefield's David Solomona hitting Manu Vatuvei who stepped inside Carney for the try. Great Britain had a let-off when Vatuvei touched down from Solomona's kick but was ruled to have brushed the line as he did so by the video referee, Bob Connolly.

That escape triggered Great Britain's best spell of the half. Keith Senior intercepted David Kidwell's pass and Keiron Cunningham combined with Sinfield and got over the line without being able to ground the ball.

New Zealand went straight to the other end and Jones kicked for Jake Webster who out-jumped the much taller Leon Pryce for a third converted try.

Great Britain finally created something on 29 minutes when Cunningham ran across field from dummy-half and Johnson got outside his marker, pinned back his ears and made the corner. Sinfield's conversion went in off the upright.

The Kiwis stretched further ahead two minutes before the break. Chev Walker conceded a penalty at the play-the-ball and Jones and Paul Watuira put Webb in for his second try.

New Zealand's traditional flat spell seemed to have arrived at the start of the second-half, and Sinfield and Walker linked up for Senior to reach out and plant the ball down. Two minutes later, Fielden's mighty run set up the position from which Cunningham released Johnson.

Two conversions from Sinfield made the gap four points but when Paul Wellens was dragged behind his own line, New Zealand took control again through a try from Clinton Toopi.

Again Fielden took Britain forward and again Cunningham's smart work at dummy-half put Johnson over but, after Vatuvie had seen a try disallowed, New Zealand finished the stronger. Motu Tony was lucky not to be penalised for a high tackle on Lee Gilmour; instead, the influential Jones sent Paul Rauhihi over for the clincher.

There was still time for Toopi to claim his second try. It is going to take a mighty effort from Great Britain against Australia to make the final.

Great Britain: Wellens (St Helens); Carney (Wigan), Gleeson (Warrington), Senior (Leeds), Pryce (Bradford); Sinfield (Leeds), Deacon (Bradford); Fielden (Bradford), Cunningham (St Helens), Peacock (Bradford), Gilmour (St Helens), Johnson (Bradford), Ellis (Leeds). Substitutes used: Burrow (Leeds), Morley (Sydney), Walker (Leeds), Fozzard (St Helens).

New Zealand: Webb (NZ Warriors); Webster (Melbourne), Whatuira (Wests-Tigers), Toopi (NZ Warriors), Vatuvei (NZ Warriors); Vagana (Cronulla), Jones (NZ Warriors); Rauhihi (North Queensland), Tony (Hull), Wiki (NZ Warriors), Kidwell (Melbourne), Solomona (Wakefield), Guttenbeil (NZ Warriors). Substitutes: Anderson (NZ Warriors), Asotasi (Canterbury), Pritchard (Penrith), Lauitiiti (Leeds).

Referee: G Black (New Zealand).