Australia 30–6 New Zealand — Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup
26 Oct 2008 · Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia · Attendance: 34,157
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Group A, 2008 Rugby League World Cup: Australia 30–6 New Zealand, at Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia on 26 Oct 2008.
Scorers
| Australia | Tries: Folau (2); Inglis; Monaghan; Slater Goals: Thurston (4/5); Smith (1/1) |
| New Zealand | Tries: S. Manu Goals: Matai (1/1) |
Teams
| Australia | New Zealand | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billy Slater | Fullback | Lance Hohaia | 1 |
| 2 | Joel Monaghan | Wing | Sam Perrett | 2 |
| 3 | Greg Inglis | Centre | Steve Matai | 3 |
| 4 | Israel Folau | Centre | Jerome Ropati | 4 |
| 5 | Brent Tate | Wing | Manu Vatuvei | 5 |
| 6 | Darren Lockyer (c) | Stand off/Five eighth | Benji Marshall | 6 |
| 7 | Johnathan Thurston | Scrum half/Half back | Thomas Leuluai | 7 |
| 8 | Steve Price | Prop forward | Nathan Cayless (c) | 8 |
| 9 | Cameron Smith | Hooker | Nathan Fien | 9 |
| 10 | Petero Civoniceva | Prop forward | Adam Blair | 10 |
| 11 | Anthony Laffranchi | Second row | Simon Mannering | 11 |
| 12 | Glenn Stewart | Second row | Sika Manu | 12 |
| 13 | Paul Gallen | Loose forward/Lock forward | Jeremy Smith | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Kurt Gidley | Dene Halatau | 14 | |
| 15 | Brent Kite | Greg Eastwood | 15 | |
| 16 | Anthony Tupou | Setaimata Sa | 16 | |
| 17 | Josh Perry | Sam Rapira | 17 | |
| Ricky Stuart | Coach | Stephen Kearney | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Ashley Klein (Australia) — single-sourced |
| Touch judges | James Child — single-sourced, Jose Pereria — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Not confirmed to Tier-1 standard |
Match report
Australia beat New Zealand 30-6 at the Sydney Football Stadium, Israel Folau scoring twice on the way to a comfortable win.
Previous World Cup meetings
- 1954 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 34–15 New Zealand
- 1957 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 25–5 New Zealand
- 1960 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 21–15 New Zealand
- 1968 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 31–12 New Zealand
- 1970 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 47–11 New Zealand
- 1972 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 9–5 New Zealand
- 1975 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 36–8 New Zealand
- 1975 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): New Zealand 8–24 Australia
- 1977 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): New Zealand 12–27 Australia
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): New Zealand 18–0 Australia
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 32–12 New Zealand
- 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 25–12 New Zealand
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): New Zealand 14–22 Australia
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup (World Cup Table): Australia 40–12 New Zealand
- 1995 Rugby League World Cup (Semi-final): Australia 30–20 New Zealand
- 2000 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 40–12 New Zealand
- 2008 Rugby League World Cup (Final): New Zealand 34–20 Australia
- 2013 Rugby League World Cup (Final): Australia 34–2 New Zealand
- 2021 Rugby League World Cup (Semi-final): Australia 16–14 New Zealand