STACEY JONES says New Zealand can take lessons from their World Cup defeat to Australia, insisting there’s plenty more to come from the Kiwis across the tournament.
The sides played out an enthralling 80 minutes at Allianz Stadium, with a late Jack Bostock try sealing a 24-22 victory for Australia as the tournament began with an all-time classic.
“There were big moments [from Australia], because of the outcome,” said Jones, whose side led four times across a thrilling contest before seeing the win snatched from their grasp.
“There were a couple of tries from intercepts and they got tries from kicks, but they earned them. And there was a little bit of discipline from us too, we shouldn’t have been offside from a kick.
“But there’s lots of stuff to be proud of, there’s lots of stuff to like. There’s a lot more to go in this tournament.”
Asked if the two nations meet again in a month, Jones says he would be confident New Zealand would win.
“I guess the players are confident in what they can do, they’re going to get better too.
“There’s lots of teams in this competition that are going to play really good brands of footy, what a spectacle for everyone.
“Unfortunately we were on the losing side, but we will learn from it and we will get better and make some adjustments.”
The Kiwis did not come through the thriller unscathed, with two-try fullback Kalyn Ponga withdrawn with ten minutes remaining after having played through the pain barrier of an arm injury that could already spell the end of his tournament.
“We’re not too sure on the injury yet,” explained Jones.
“It’s a possible fracture of the arm; he’s going to go for scans.
“He had a pretty good game. He played about 20 minutes with the injury and toughed it out.
“We dominated so many areas of that game and he was a beneficiary of that. Playing behind this forward pack, he seemed really comfortable.”
