Ben Hunt cemented himself as one of the NRL’s premiers playmakers this season, but it was his years spent as a utility that helped him spark Australia to their 16-12 Four Nations win over England.
With England still holding their 12-4 halftime lead midway through the second half at AAMI Park on Sunday before 20,585 fans, Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens thrust Hunt into the action for Sam Thaiday in the 53rd minute and the result was almost instantaneous.
Hunt’s move into hooker, shifting captain Cameron Smith to lock, lifted the intensity of the Australia attack and the home side scored two tries in four minutes to surge past England.
“He was good, he has played dummy half before with the Broncos when he started playing first grade so he is not unfamiliar to that role,” Smith said.
“He has great speed, he is a darty little thing and asked a few questions of the English defence around the middle so he was there on the spot when we needed him to score those four points to get us back in the match there.
“He is a great young player for such a young guy, he has got such a great temperament he can play well in those situations, it is nice to see him play well on his debut.”
Hunt pounced on a Smith grubber to score in the 57th minute and when Daly Cherry-Evans put Greg Inglis over in the 64th minute Australia moved to 16-12 lead that was never headed.
The win keeps Australia’s tournament hopes alive.
However the result hung on an 80th minute touchdown from England winger Ryan Hall, that referee Gerard Sutton ruled no try before sending to the video referee.
Hall’s pinkie finger touched the Steeden from a Liam Farrell kick before it went dead, but Bernard Sutton ruled there was no downward pressure and no try.
“I wasn’t sure (about it) but the referee called no try and had it been a try, Hall would have been celebrating,” Sheen said.
“But he wasn’t. They were ready for the line dropout, the player told you really. I think we got the right decision.”
England coach Steve McNamara felt a try should have been given.
“His finger certainly looked like it was applying some pressure on the ball when it was on the ground,” he said.
England 12-4 at halftime, after a spiteful opening that saw three players in Liam Farrell, Sean O’Louglin and Greg Bird put on report.
Australia scored first through Michael Jennings in the 17th minute after a Daly Cherry-Evans bust but an enterprising England then enjoyed the best of the first half.
Kallum Watkins crossed out wide after the visitors created numbers on the right hand side in the 29th minute and Hall scored from a lovely one-armed offload from Dan Sarginson in the 34th minute.
But after the break England were reluctant to thrown the ball around and it cost them.
“They got to a lead and they worked hard to protect it,” Sheen said.
The result means the Four Nations finalists will depend on the outcome and scorelines of next weekend’s final round fixtures between New Zealand and England in Dunedin on Saturday and Australia’s match with Samoa in Wollongong, with for and against possibly coming into the equations.
