Havili growing combination with Lienert-Brown

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"I'm happy with how it went today and to get a win like that over Australia in Perth is outstanding. I'm happy with where we're at, but there's a lot to work on for what is coming in the weeks ahead," he said.

Havili said extra attention was applied to Samu Kerevi's challenge at second five-eighths for Australia.

They had looked at aspects of his play in preparation for his expected impact.

"He's pretty powerful with the ball in contact, so it was about being able to make my one-on-one tackles with him, and with him coming back from Japan you know what a threat he is. It was cool to mark up against him after being in Japan for a couple of years. I really enjoyed the challenge," he said.

Havili said he felt more confident every game and enjoyed being in the midfield and learning with Lienert-Brown. He had only been playing there for a year, and he was still learning to get better in that space.

Defending as well as they had was something they took pride in. They had also made the most of turnovers won by scoring points from them. That was also satisfying, he said.

Knowing they had four more weeks of similar defensive intensity was a challenge, but he was confident their fitness support group would come up with a plan to have them at their best.

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