Australia have exacted revenge on New Zealand for last year's heartbreaking Pacific Cup final with a 22-10 win that propels the Kangaroos into the decider of this year's tournament.
Nearly a year after the Kiwis handed Australia their biggest loss, a try-scoring double to Zac Lomax saw off the chance of another defeat before a hostile Christchurch crowd on Sunday.
The Kangaroos still appeared below their best, with Angus Crichton notably bombing an early try and new halfback Mitch Moses spraying a kick and then putting a line dropout out on the full.
Regardless, the win over an admittedly understrength New Zealand helps vindicate a raft of changes made to the Australian team following last year's 30-0 debacle in Hamilton.
"If we happened to lose tonight, we were under pressure as a team and we'd have to rely on whoever next week to lose (to make the final)," said coach Mal Meninga.
"It's always pressure under these sorts of relegation and promotion systems.
"I'm just happy that we've made it. We're there."
Australia will meet the winner of New Zealand's match against Tonga in the Pacific Cup final at Sydney's CommBank Stadium on November 10.
"There's a foundation there that we can work from," Kiwis coach Stacey Jones said of his side's loss.
"Obviously disappointed in the result but really proud too. Proud of the guys that made their debuts, proud of the effort that was put in.
"We'll be much better for the run. We had guys who hadn't played for seven weeks."
The Kiwis were spirited as injuries took players including Jahrome Hughes, Moses Leota, Dylan Brown and Ronaldo Mulitalo out of Stacey Jones's first game as head coach.
But the Kangaroos found success attacking their left side, where defensively weaker players Matt Timoko and Will Warbrick lined up next to makeshift five-eighth Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
Lomax had both his tries on the back of raids down that edge, first making good on Tom Trbojevic's line break and then latching onto a Harry Grant flick pass midway through the second half.
The Kiwis threatened to make a game of it when Warbrick pegged one back on Lomax and reduced the deficit to six points as the final 15 minutes approached.
But down the same right side, fullback Dylan Edwards showed no sign of his troublesome knee injury as he dummied through the line and passed to a flying Moses, who sealed the result.
"I'm really pleased with the defensive effort and obviously we scored a few more points than last week. There's still improvements in us but that's a good thing," Meninga said
Despite a career-best season, Crichton came up with one of the more staggering bombed tries in recent memory when he strolled over in the opening minutes.
Crichton had juggled Tom Dearden's flat pass before planting the ball down to silence the Kiwi crowd after only four minutes.
But replays revealed the second-rower had dropped the ball only centimetres above the grass without a defender on him.
"Every now and then you have a moment and you're happy it's not yourself," said Kangaroos captain Isaah Yeo.
"(But) I thought he bounced back really well after it."
Lindsay Collins helped his Sydney Roosters teammate save face by scoring the first points.
The big prop spotted Keano Kini defending in the frontline and burst through both the fullback and Phoenix Crossland on a 40-metre gallop to the line.
On his fairytale return from rugby league retirement, Kiwis fan favourite Shaun Johnson kicked superbly all afternoon as rival halfback Moses endured a mixed game with the boot.
Johnson forced back-to-back line dropouts with his short kicking game to signal a period of Kiwi dominance early in the second half after having a hand in the hosts' opener.
The halfback sent the play to the right where Isaiah Papali'i and Kini each came up with quick passes to help Jamayne Isaako over.
