One New Zealand Warriors forward Mitchell Barnett made an impressive contribution on debut for the Kangaroos in their 18-0 win over Tonga in Friday night’s opening match of the Pacific Championships in Brisbane.
The Australians were holding a precarious 6-0 lead in a tough encounter when Barnett was injected from the interchange after 25 minutes, coming on for starting front rower Lindsay Collins.
By the time he was replaced in the 60th minute the Kangaroos had worked their way to a 14-0 advantage.
In his 35 minutes on the field, Barnett had carried the ball 13 times for 123 metres; of Australia’s forwards only Angus Crichton (127 metres from 19 runs) topped Barnett’s runs and metres.
He complemented his work with the ball with 17 tackles, no misses and two ineffective tackles.
Lining up for Tonga against Barnett, departing One New Zealand Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake was on the field for 56 minutes, making 134 metres from 17 runs and 19 tackles without a miss.
