Early mail: Mal Meninga set to stick with the same spine for Kiwis showdown as Kangaroos look for more attacking fluency

October 21

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has all but confirmed there will be no changes to the spine for Sunday’s grudge match with the Kiwis from the side that outlasted Tonga 18-0 to open the Pacific Championships.

Meninga wants to see more cohesion in attack, with the new-look Australian spine lacking the polish we’ve come to expect from the World Cup champions.

The good news is there are no injuries, with the Aussies to have one more session in Queensland before they fly out to Christchurch later today.

Australia managed three tries against Tonga including an interception and a late Tom Dearden solo effort, with the new combinations not quite gelling after they only had two proper sessions together in camp.

But Meninga isn’t keen on making any changes, with Dylan Edwards, Dearden, Mitchell Moses and Harry Grant set to get valuable time together which means veteran Ben Hunt’s only chance of a recall is if he replaces Matt Burton on the bench.

“We’ve talked about it. We haven’t settled on anything but we have to announce a team this afternoon,” Meninga told SEN Breakfast with Vossy & Brandy on Tuesday morning.

“In the back of my mind, I’m thinking that we should go with the same footy team.

“We can’t change our spine, that’s the important part. We were clunky so we have to give consideration to cohesion and we’ve got to make sure that the team is ready to go for game two.

“It’s not an experiment, but bringing new players in might be fraught with danger. My thoughts at the moment are to keep cohesion going and to keep the team together.”

The Kangaroos are desperate to avenge last year’s heavy defeat to New Zealand in the final, with the Aussies expected to play with a lot more attacking fluency on the back of last week’s win over Tonga.

Australia will guarantee their spot in the final if they win on Sunday, with the Kangaroos to then have the week off before they ramp up preparations for the decider in Sydney on November 10.

“You’ve got two games in a row which is great because it helps with that fluency, but then you’ve got a bye which makes things a bit difficult,” Meninga said.

“They’ve got to go away from camp because we can’t keep them in camp.

“Then you’ve got the preparation leading into the final, and we haven’t even made the final yet so that’s the flip side to it because we need a good performance on Sunday because fluency is a really big part of it.”

While the spine players are still working on their combinations, Meninga was thrilled with the centre pairing of Tom Trbojevic and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow who both scored against Tonga and defended well out of position.

Trbojevic was in some doubt for the series after batting shoulder and knee injuries for the Sea Eagles, but he starred last week with a long-range interception before he linked up with his centre partner to put him over in the second half.

“The Hammer (Tabuai-Fidow) through the week was really quiet. He didn’t say much,” his coach revealed.

“I know he’s a little introverted with how he goes about his life, but you could see that he was switched on and you could see that he was mentally prepared on the back of what happened at the backend of last year against the Kiwis.

“Tommy had a skip in his step the whole week, so they had different preparations, but you could tell through the week that they were ready to go.

“I was really pleased with how they both handled the occasion. They’re both fullbacks for their clubs, but defensively I thought they were outstanding (in the centres).”

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