BRISBANE: Dominant New Zealand mastered Australia's Kangaroos for a third straight international to herald a changing of the guard at the top of international rugby league with a 26-12 victory in Brisbane on Sunday.
It was the first time in over 60 years that New Zealand had strung together three consecutive victories over the once-unchallengeable Kangaroos.
The Kiwis can now claim the world number one ranking off Australia if they beat England in a best-of-three away Test series in November.
The last time New Zealand achieved three straight wins over the Kangaroos was in 1952-53.
The Kiwis also savoured their first victory in a mid-year trans-Tasman Test against Australia since 1998.
"I am really excited," New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney said of his team's future.
"We are a young group with some real talent in there. We have to give them the opportunity to play together.
"There are some real exciting times ahead of us. It's just a matter of managing that correctly and reaching our potential."
New Zealand put in an outstanding performance in both attack and defence, raising questions about the ageing Australian team and their coach Tim Sheens following last year's Four Nations loss to the Kiwis.
"There will be scrutiny on everyone," Sheens said.
"We made too many mistakes for an Australian side. We prepared well. We were ready for the game."
Skipper Cameron Smith said the Kiwis deserved to be considered the world's number one team.
New Zealand conquered the Australians twice in last year's Four Nations, including a 22-18 win in the tournament final in Wellington.
The Kangaroos scored the first try through Sam Thaiday, who trampled over Kieran Foran to score off Cooper Cronk. But the Kiwis broke the Anzac Test wide open with four tries in the closing 20 minutes of the opening half.
Powerhouse winger Manu Vatuvei, voted man of the match, scored a try double within the space of eight minutes and world player of the year Shaun Johnson became more influential.
In a significant moment Johnson stepped inside Johnathan Thurston to score New Zealand's third try, and the Kiwis were in again towards half-time.
A quick movement to the right and winger Jason Nightingale's kick downfield had Greg Inglis scrambling in cover to clear the threat.
But Inglis inexplicably failed to ground the rolling ball in Australia's in-goal and Shaun Kenny-Dowall scored New Zealand's fourth try -- giving them a shock 26-6 half-time lead.
Vatuvei looked set to complete his hat-trick of tries early in the second half, only to have the ball knocked out of his grasp by Inglis's desperate tackle.
Fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck pulled off a ball-and-all tackle on Cooper Cronk on the New Zealand try-line to save a certain try as the Kangaroos mounted attacking raids.
Centre Will Chambers finally got over the try-line as the Kangaroos pulled back to trail 26-12 with 20 minutes left.
But it was the Kiwis who came close to scoring twice in the final stages, with Johnson chased down by Inglis and Kenny-Dowall losing the ball over Australia's try-line.
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