Zero means more than 50 for Kiwis after impressive win against Samoa

Putting 50 points on Samoa was pretty special, but it was keeping them scoreless that most pleased the team on Saturday night.

The 50-0 victory in front of 24,000 spectators at Eden Park, was the first time the Kiwis had stopped a team from scoring a point since they beat France 36-0 in Auckland in 2001.

To do this in front of a bunch of spectators so desperate for the team in blue to score a try was an impressive feat and Kiwis coach Michael Maguire said he took more pleasure in that than all the tries at the other end of the field.

“Probably the no points [I’m most pleased with]. As a coach, I’m more inclined that way than scoring tries,” Maguire said.

“But I was impressed with some of the tries we did score.

“In the short period of time that the spine came together, Kieran Foran put his head in the middle there and he does a great job.

“He’s a passionate Kiwi and I think he’s been playing for 13 or 14 years and he’d still die for his team-mates with the way he defended. It’s what we’ll take forward.”

New Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris was also pleased to keep Samoa scoreless.

“Everyone’s feeling good,” Fisher-Harris said.

“But the same as Madge (Maguire), I’m just happy about the zero. That was the main one that everyone spoke about.

“Everyone’s battered up but we’ll be right for next week.”

Having not played together since losing to Australia in the World Cup semifinal a year ago and with a new team, it was impressive to see the team hit the ground like this and it makes next weekend’s clash against the Kangaroos in Melbourne a mouth-watering affair.

Not surprisingly, Maguire was delighted to see the team come together like they had.

“I’m really proud of them,” he said.

“The boys arrived in camp and had a feel about making sure they hit the ground running.

“They had a really good prep and the connection with the players was strong. With our senior boys, we’ve had a generational change, with a different-looking senior group to what we’ve had in the past.

“They connected well and I thought that played a massive part in the result. They’re a very tight group and it was a fun camp to be a part of at the start and it carried on into the game.”

Samoa coach Ben Gardiner admitted his team was outplayed.

“I thought we weren’t good enough tonight. We turned up and did exactly what we wanted to do at the start,” Gardiner said.

“The game was in the balance for 15-20 minutes, which was really good.

“On the back of that, we didn’t get our set ends right, we got some kicks away, but didn’t get the tackles right on tackle one.

“We were chasing the ball up the field, having to get the ball and couldn’t control the ruck speed.

“That happened two or three times in a row and we seemed to be chasing the game from there.

“What we wanted to do from last week was improve the start of the game, which we did, we competed there in our contact and wrestle. We couldn’t go with them after that.

“The quality they have in their team, nothing against the guys in our team, they have experienced international football players.

“They have played a lot of games at the top level, it’s another lesson for our guys.”