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Kiwis' fullback Joseph Manu sets new record in starring performance over Tonga

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Joey Manu has made a stunning return to international rugby league, running for a record-breaking 398 metres in New Zealand’s 26-6 Pacific Test win over Tonga in Auckland.

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The Sydney Roosters centre’s efforts on Saturday night at Mt Smart Stadium capped a dominant performance by a Kiwis side playing their first game in two years.

“If he ran two more metres it would have been way cooler,” was the cheeky assessment of New Zealand hooker Brandon Smith when told of his teammate’s feat.

It got a few laughs, but Smith was quick to point out just how important the effort was, describing it as “outstanding.”

“He’s just such a good teammate. A silent assassin, he just gets the job done,” Smith said.

Smith’s praise was echoed by coach Michael Maguire and captain Jesse Bromwich.

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“It’s just crazy. I thought his performance was right up there with the fullbacks I’ve ever played with,” Bromwich, who made 23 tackles in the win, said.

“He’s a different sort of body, beating defenders one on one and bringing the ball back with aggression. It’s really nice to see as a forward seeing a kick go over and then having your fullback flying back, getting rid of people whenever he felt like it.”

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Maguire chuckled when asked if he’d found himself a consistent selection at fullback from now on, simply replying “yeah I think so.”

But he pointed out that the kick pressure the rest of the team put on the Tongan duo of Kotoni Staggs and Talatau Amone meant that he was more often than not catching the ball on the full.

The man himself said the honour of being back in the black jersey is what motivated him, along with the challenge of wearing the No.1.

“Being back home, playing international league again … it was special,” Manu said.

“I love running with the ball, I got to do that … at fullback so it was pretty fun.”

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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