17 Oct 2010

Kiwis romp home over Samoa at Mt Smart

8:34 am on 17 October 2010

The New Zealand rugby league team has warmed up for next week's Four Nations opener with a 50 to 6 thrashing of Samoa in the first-ever Test between the two countries in Auckland.

The Kiwis scored 10 tries while Samoa finally crossed the line just before the final whistle at Mount Smart Stadium.

Igniting the Kiwis' scoring spree in his first Test in three years, and only the second of his career, was Sydney Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall, who snared the first two tries of the match to help his side to a 16-0 halftime lead.

In the second half left winger Manu Vatuvei, who hadn't played for the Kiwis since the 2009 Anzac Test, grabbed a brace of his own to lift his career tally to 13 tries in 18 Tests and 22 in 20 matches this year.

When he went off with cramp late in the game, the Kiwis elected to play out the final few minutes of the match with only 12 men even though they still had a 12th interchange left.

Apart from Vatuvei and Kenny-Dowall there were six other try-scorers as the Kiwis scored 34 points in the second half.

In the curtain-raiser, the New Zealand Maori came from 18-0 down at half-time to draw 18-18 with England.