Australia
26

Tries:
Brad Horder, Sam Conlon, Gavin Duncan, Nuko Hifo, Nathan Mossman

Goals:
Drew Dalton 3

Match Summary:
Sunshine bathed Langlands Park for the final day’s festivities, with a large crowd of 1200 on hand to cheer on the eight participating nations. Host nations Australia were crowned 2008 World champions thanks to their nail-biting 26-18 victory over England.

Australian coach and former NSW and Australian test representative Brett Kenny said his side showed great courage to outscore their opponents 26-6 in the second half.

“It was the first time in this tournament we’ve been behind at halftime so it was all new to the players,” he said.

“We (coaching staff) had the belief they were good enough to come back, it was just a matter of whether the players had the belief in themselves.”

“They came out and did the simple things right, came up with a try in the second half and that’s what helped us get on our way.”

It was all one way traffic in the first half with England captain Mark McKinley slotting an early penalty goal to register the first points of the final.

McKinley then added the extras after Tom Lever scored in the 22nd minute, handing England a healthy start to the match.

The home side fought back from a halftime deficit of 10-0 thanks to some inspirational play from halfback and man of the match Drew Dalton.

Dalton kick-started Australia’s second half when he broke the line in the 45th minute, allowing centre Brad Horder to cross for Australia’s first points.

Co-captain Dalton then had a hand in the next try when a short ball of his managed to put wide running forward Sam Conlon over the line, levelling the scores at 10-all.

Australia then hit the lead for the first time in the 60th minute when utility forward Gavin Duncan danced his way through some poor English defence.

Lock Nuku Hifo then registered one of his one when he crossed just three minutes later, and it was all but over when Nathan Mossman handed Australia a 26-10 lead in the 73rd minute.

England managed to get one back in the 78th minute when Kristian Hodson ran the length of the field, but it was too little too late, allowing Australia to run out victors 26-16.