They had to wait two years but Australia's Rugby League team are once again top of the world after thumping New Zealand in the Four Nations decider at Anfield Stadium in England overnight. The Queensland spine of Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk in the halves, Cameron Smith at hooker, and Darius Boyd at fullback ran riot in the opening half as Australia raced to a 24-0 lead at the break.
A mistake in the first set of six from New Zealand gifted Australia an early attacking opportunity, which Thurston and NSW origin star, Blake Ferguson took advantage of. Eleven minutes later they were in again after an intercept by Cronulla flyer, Valentime Holmes, lead to a Josh Dugan try two plays later. From there it was all Australia as they racked up 28 unanswered points.The win sees Australia reclaim its world number one ranking from the Kiwis. Man-of-the-match, Darius Boyd, who is yet to lose a match in his 22 game career for the Kangaroos, told the BBC getting back to world number one was a major motivation for the squad."We set out to play well and get the world ranking back, we want to be the best and it is good to get the win tonight," he said.For the Kiwis, the 34-8 drubbing in the final offers a serious wake-up call prior to next year's Rugby League World Cup. They were held to a historic draw against international rugby league minnows, Scotland, in their last outing while their record in the UK remains poor having lost a test series to England in 2015 and failing to to win either a Tri Nations or Four Nations trophy there.