Do you remember the NRL Grand Final from almost a fortnight ago? Do you remember the Sydney Roosters playing one of the most dominant halves in a Premiership-decider in recent memory, only for them to go into half time 12-6 down to the Newcastle Knights? It was a bizarre half of rugby, one that defied all logic as Kalyn Ponga ran an intercept the length of the field to put his side two scores up, against all momentum.

Perhaps the strangest thing is that we almost just saw it again. 

The 2026 Rugby League World Cup’s curtain raiser, the box-office clash between Australia and New Zealand, started in a similar fashion. The defending champions, supposedly the best team in the world, were on the back foot for most of the first forty. Australia struggled to get out of their own half with the ball as the Kiwi forward pack that has sent shivers down the spine of anybody that has looked at a team sheet got to work. 

An outstanding effort from Casey McLean to open the scoring put New Zealand ahead, but although momentum continued to build, they just struggled to find that final pass to extend their lead. Fears were realised when against the run of the game, a Jahrome Hughes pass ten metres out from the tryline was intercepted by Jack Bostock. The debutant managed to run the length of the field to get the hosts on the scoreboard. 

But there was no drastic shift in the direction of the game afterwards. Cam Munster and Mitchell Moses both struggled to organise the Kangaroos’ attack, and anything of note in green and gold just stemmed from Reece Walsh twisting in and out of tackles while returning kicks. So, when Tom Trbojevic intercepted a pass just shy of the goal line to run the length of the pitch, score, and give Australia the chance to go ahead, New Zealand probably couldn’t believe what was happening to them. Kalyn Ponga was now on the other end of a heist. 

When the teams emerged for the second half the game truly came into its own, as Ponga and Walsh decided it was both of their respective missions to outdo each other and drag their sides to victory. 

Walsh’s selection had been one of Kangaroos head coach Kevin Walters’ more curious ones when the teams were announced on Tuesday. Walters’ approach seemed to be half relying on existing credit in the bank at international level, and half wishing to give a little extra rest to those part of sides that went deep in the NRL finals. 

That might explain picking Kotoni Staggs over Bradman Best for example, or even Mitchell Moses getting the nod as opposed to Sam Walker. But to view picking Reece Walsh over Clive Churchill Medallist James Tedesco like this misses the point. Go back and watch anything he did in this game, whether it be the try-saving tackle in the first half or him forcing Ponga and Jahrome Hughes to tackle each other whilst running around them, and you’ll realise why Walters opted to keep the game’s superstar in the side. Even after a difficult season at club level, at representative level, Reece Walsh is still rugby league, and in green and gold, Reece Walsh is Australia.

Yet as a team, New Zealand looked far more coherent, with more of an idea of how and where the points were going to come from. The choices of some to tip them for World Cup glory were being justified in front of our own eyes, and for once Australia’s attacking frailties had meant there was not a lingering sense that they were always going to get back into it. So it was all the more strange when, once again against the run of the game, Jack Bostock jumped what felt like halfway to the stadium’s roof to bring down a Cameron Munster kick to get Australia back into it. 

A few moments of brilliance from both fullbacks would have the game on a knife edge with five minutes left, so it would be up to Bostock once more to leap like a salmon and retrieve a kick to give the hosts the victory. The great escape was now complete.

On debut, much like his New South Wales appearances earlier this year, Bostock had shown that a lack of established representative credentials would not stop the Dolphins man from performing to the highest level. His three tries had perhaps justified another of Walters’ selection calls. Playing on the wing, it did not matter that Australia had not picked a single player that had played an NRL game as a winger this year. Bostock and Trbojevic had proved that it was okay, provided you could jump, or run the length of Allianz Stadium should you find yourself intercepting a Kiwi pass. 

And what of New Zealand in all of this? Well, as much as we may herald this game as one of the great World Cup matches, the Kiwis will struggle to see it as anything other than one that got away. News seems to only get worse for them too as it seems Ponga, who came into the tournament after one of his career-best seasons, has suffered a broken arm. Just how catastrophic the injury will prove to be remains to be seen, but New Zealand will at least find solace in their pack living up to the strength that it promised. Removing Ponga from the equation will probably require a simpler approach, one less expansive in attack and more reliant on forcing their way in through the front door. 

Australia will probably be rocked by the manner in which they won and the closeness of the result. When was the last time anybody felt this surprised about a Kangaroo victory? There’s a clear fallibility to Australia, and if Thursday night has proved anything, it’s that the oft-mooted pre-tournament notion that this is one of the most open world cups in decades might just have some credibility to it.