Australia has won an all-time Rugby League World Cup classic, with a hat-trick from debutant Jack Bostock earning a thrilling 24-22 win over New Zealand.<\/p>\n
After a towering bomb from Jahrome Hughes was batted back by Ronaldo Mulitalo, Isaiah Papali’i threw what could best be described as a one-handed chuck, collected by McLean on the blind side.<\/p>\n
With no space to work in, and Kangaroos halfback Mitchell Moses smothering him while directing him towards touch, McLean went airborne.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Somehow, seemingly in slow motion, as his body hovered horizontally over the sideline, McLean grounded the ball in the corner.<\/p>\n
ABC Sport expert commentator Luke Lewis described it as “one of the best finishes you will see in this game.”<\/p>\n
And just four minutes into this World Cup, a contender for try of the tournament was born.<\/p>\n
2. Long-range intercepts put Kangaroos on top<\/p>\n
The Kiwis dominated the first half at the Sydney Football Stadium.<\/p>\n
The New Zealanders had 59 per cent of the ball, made 300 more metres running, and had 66 fewer tackles.<\/p>\n
But they went into the break level after the Kangaroos scored two 90-metre intercept tries.<\/p>\n
The first Kangaroos score came from debutant Jack Bostock, who rushed out of the defensive line to grab a looping pass by Kiwi halfback Jahrome Hughes.<\/p>\n
If that ball got over his head, it would have been a try for the Kiwis. But the Australian winger took the ball cleanly, broke the grasp of a Kiwi, and ran for the goal-line.<\/p>\n
Incredibly, an almost identical play happened for Australia’s other winger Tom Trbojevic on the other side of the field.<\/p>\n
Kiwi centre Casey McLean gave a pass meant for his unmarked winger, but Trbojevic stuck his arm in the way and caught the footy.<\/p>\n
Trbojevic then showed the speed he was known for at the start of his career, beating the cover tackle attempt of Kodi Nikorima and streaking away.<\/p>\n
3. After first half denial, Ponga breathes fire<\/p>\n
The duel of the opposing fullbacks was one of the most hyped heading into this game, featuring two of the most electric talents in the game.<\/p>\n
![\"Kiwis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ec6cef7c31351515cf580150cbfcdd93.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Kalyn Ponga was a standout for the Kiwis, before leaving the game with a suspected broken arm. (Getty Images: Matt King)<\/p>\n
And it produced everything fans could hope for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiwis’ custodian Kalyn Ponga came into the tournament off the back of a breathtaking season for the Knights, while the Kangaroos’ number one Reece Walsh was considered a somewhat controversial selection, preferred over the Roosters’ Clive Churchill medallist James Tedesco.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After being kept relatively quiet for most of the first half, Ponga burst to life on the left, dancing, darting, and taunting the Kangaroos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He slipped past Staggs and tried to sidestep Walsh, who produced a scintillating try-saver, bundling Ponga into touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was one for the purists, in shades of Scott Sattler’s tackle on Toddy Byrne in the 2003 NRL grand final.<\/p>\n
Ponga shook it off after the break, and the Kiwis debutant was on the end of some slick passing from the Kiwis for a straightforward finish for his first try.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His second was better, a 40-metre vintage Ponga effort.<\/p>\n
With his shorts pulled halfway down his legs, he still managed to power past Walsh with a classic step, sending the sizeable Kiwi contingent in Sydney into delirium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
4. Walsh plunders then chunders, Ponga goes off<\/p>\n
The Kangaroos were staring down a rare defeat to their arch-rivals in this arena, when Walsh responded to his opposite number’s heroics, and left the Kiwis in his dust.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Kangaroos](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/785ee28f15536faba5ba09058da1d672.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Reece Walsh struggled to re-gain his composure after scoring his try. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n
Deep in their own half and trailing by six, Bostock slipped a clever flick pass behind his back, and the Broncos superstar swooped.<\/p>\n
He swerved past defenders, running 60 metres to go over in the corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he gave everything in the effort, and as he prepared to take the conversion, he was interrupted by his exhaustion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He threw up and was unable to take the kick, with Lattrell Mitchell stepping up instead.<\/p>\n
Walsh continued to dry retch, and looked completely spent. But he managed to keep it together (and inside) to stay on the field and see out the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it was a horrible end to the game for Ponga; his night ended early with a suspected broken arm \u2014 a huge blow for the Kiwis’ title hopes.<\/p>\n
Ponga had nursed his left arm after a tackle on Cam Munster early in the second half.<\/p>\n
He stayed out there, but appeared to hit his arm again in a collision with teammate Hughes in an attempt to tackle Walsh.<\/p>\n
5. Bostock hat trick\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jack Bostock had already made his mark on international rugby league with his 90-metre intercept try in the first half.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he was not done scoring, and it proved a match-winning performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His second try came in the 57th minute, with the Aussies trailing by six points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kangaroos five-eighth Cam Munster put up a pinpoint kick for Bostock to chase.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Australian went up against his Dolphins teammate Jamayne Isaako, beat him in the air, and scored a fantastic try to help level the scores.<\/p>\n
But Bostock had an even better effort to win the game.<\/p>\n
Down by two with less than four minutes to play, it was Munster again who put up a high kick for Bostock to chase.<\/p>\n
Isaako was in a much better position this time, and appeared to have caught the footy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Bostock ripped the ball out of the Kiwi’s arms, in turn, ripping the game away from New Zealand.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia and New Zealand have set a high standard for the 17th edition of the Rugby League World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,3762,3195,15499,1736,73708,13391,139707,85],"class_list":["post-929223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-kalyn-ponga","tag-kangaroos","tag-kiwis","tag-new-zealand","tag-quick-hits","tag-reece-walsh","tag-rugby-league-world-cup","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}