Saturday 25 October 2014 13:47, UK
Australia captain Cameron Smith says Australia’s injury-list is no excuse for their shock 30-12 defeat by New Zealand in the Four Nations.
The depleted Kangoroos took a 12-6 lead before conceding 24 unanswered points as the Kiwis ended an eight-game losing streak at the hands of their major rivals.
Already without 10 members of the team that beat the Kiwis in May, the Aussies lost scrum-half Daly Cherry-Evans to a lower-back injury in the first half and full-back Greg Inglis at half-time to a virus.
But skipper Smith still believes his side underperformed despite their numerous absentees.
"They were very big losses for us, but that's no excuse," Smith said.
"Injuries happen in our game. We still had a good enough side to do well, but the Kiwis played better than us."
The result means that Australia will need to beat England in Melbourne next Sunday to keep alive their hopes of reaching the November 15 final in Wellington.
Smith added: "We'll have to work on our ball control, which was very sloppy, and we allowed the Kiwis too much roll-on. We were consistently average in that department, so we've plenty of work to do next week."
Early tries from Inglis - his 24th in 20 appearances - and Beau Scott gave Australia a boost at Suncorp Stadium but the spirited Kiwis fought back to level by half-time and dominated the contest after the break.
"I thought it was a great performance," New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney said.
"It's a really encouraging start to a pretty long tournament. We've got Samoa next week and I know a few guys there will be looking to take a few scalps in our team."
