Cameron Munster's damning confession after Kangaroos make unwanted Test history
The Kangaroos five-eighth was brutally honest after his team's record defeat.
Kangaroos five-eighth Cameron Munster has blasted his team's performance and admitted the team were 'complacent' after a humiliating 30-0 loss to New Zealand in the Pacific Championship final. In what has gone down as Australia's most brutal loss, the Kangaroos hardly threatened Michael Maguire's team as New Zealand showed more determination in the final on Saturday.
Veteran players such as James Tedesco have been singled out from fans with a change of the guard called for in the national team. NRL great and former Kangaroos halfback Cooper Cronk called out the Aussies for 'complacency' having defeated New Zealand comfortably a week earlier.
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Australia hardly looked like scoring with Munster and Daly Cherry-Evans never able to showcase their brilliance in the match. And in a brutal admission, Storm five-eighth and World Cup winner Munster has confirmed the team's attitude wasn't right on the day.
"A little bit of complacency," Munster told Channel Nine after the match. "We knew they were going to come out hard but we didn't battle their energy or enthusiasm."
Munster's comments come as Cronk called out the Kangaroos for an attitude problem heading into the game. "Maybe after the performance last week, there’s a little bit of complacency,” Cronk said on Fox Sports.
“Under Mal, they’ve played 26 games and that’s only his third loss as Australian coach. He’s had a lot of success that the playing group has probably been used to. It was a dominant NZ performance, but maybe there was a little bit of complacency after last week.”
New Zealand captain James Fisher-Harris acknowledged the skill and talent in the Kangaroos squad, which defeated them 32-16 a week earlier. However, he claimed his men played 'more like a team' in the final.
Meninga has come under fire for a number of his selections in the squad after the biggest loss in the nation's history, surpassing the 24-point loss in 1952 and 2005. And the World Cup winning coach admitted his team will come back and redeem themselves.
"Everyone loves to see us lose and we've done that," Meninga said. "We've made everyone happy. Obviously (the result) will shock the rugby league world in the manner we lost and the scoreline, but we will come back with redemption at the end of next year. We made heaps of errors. That is a reflection of how New Zealand played. They were the better side and deserved their victory."
Greg Alexander blasts Kangaroos defeat in final
Penrith great Greg Alexander was one of the harsher critics of the Kangaroos performance having labelled the effort as 'embarrassing' only a year after winning the World Cup in the UK.
“The Kiwis needed to make a good start, they needed to be strong and aggressive and they needed to keep it going because this is Australian side is a fantastic side,” Alexander said. “But the Kiwis embarrassed them (Kangaroos) this afternoon. It’s an embarrassing result for Australian rugby league.”
While plenty of the attention will turn on the Kangaroos' effort, Cronk was full of praise for New Zealand's ability to bounce back. “You’ve got a contribution from everyone for New Zealand and they just absolutely handcuffed Australia at different stages,” Cronk added. “Tremendous performance.”
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