New Zealand stun Australia once again to win Four Nations

New Zealand produced, arguably, the best performance in recent times to win the Four Nations against Australia in the final, with Shaun “magic” Johnson putting forward a case that he is arguably, the best player in the world right now.

As indicated and recommended by Coral in the preview to the match to score anytime at odds of 2/1, the 24-year-old New Zealand Warriors player scored, set up a try and generally pulled every string, as they overcame Australia 22-18.

The best players generally deliver on the big stage and he didn’t disappoint. Even, a worthy contended to challenge him for the accolade; Australia full back Greg Inglis had no credible answer and was uncharacteristically beaten on-on-one by him, as the Kiwi added four points to his goal-kicking tally.

The player who crushed English hearts in the last minute of the World Cup semi final a year ago said after the match: “It’s been awesome playing here in Wellington,” Johnson said Johnson to adoring home fans in Wellington shortly after the final whistle.

“We’d waited quite a while for this and I’m just so proud of the boys. It’s a dream come true.

“We worked so hard this tour. It’s been such an awesome tournament for the boys and to finish it off like that has just been unreal.”

Skipper Simon Mannering said: “It’s been a great tournament.

“The boys put in everything they could and it paid dividends tonight.”

Even Australia captain, Cameron Smith, who had a great tournament himself, acknowledged the quality of the winning team, saying: “Congratulations to the Kiwi boys on a fantastic tournament,” he said. “You’ve gone through undefeated and that’s a pretty special effort.

“It’s been a bit of an up-and-down tournament for us. We didn’t start too well but I thought in the last couple of weeks we played some good footie. Tonight we were pretty brave but unfortunately we came up against a better side.”