Australian Test coach Ricky Stuart sung the praises of young sensation Greg Inglis after he helped spark a stunning comeback that propelled the Kangaroos to a 20-15 Tri-Nations win over New Zealand at Telstra Dome on Saturday.

Down by seven points when Stacey Jones piloted over a field goal with eight minutes on the clock, the Kangaroos scored two tries in the final five minutes to put a dagger through the hearts of the Kiwis, their Tri-Nations defence in tatters after two straight losses.

Inglis, who had already delighted his hometown fans with a spectacular individual try just before halftime, had the 30,732-strong crowd on its feet in the 75th minute when he ran 60 metres down the sideline before brushing off fullback Brent Webb to cut New Zealand's lead to one at 15-14.

Now full of running, Australia completed the comeback when Mark Gasnier finished off a spectacular long-range movement, a host of Kiwi defenders left sprawling in his wake.

"A seven point deficit, it's pretty had not to think about (losing)," Stuart said.

"It's always in the back of your mind that you might get that opportunity and then through the skill of Darren (Lockyer) and the skill of Greg Inglis on the first try that put us in the fight again.

"Some of the talent that (Inglis) delivers, only special players have it. There's only a dozen or so special players that have played our game that can do that and he's certainly one of them.

"I'm actually glad he did it tonight.

"He's not in the Test team for his potential, he's in it for that, that's what he's done at his club all year."

While happy with the win, Stuart said there was still plenty of work for his side to do ahead of their next match against Great Britain in Sydney in two weeks' time.

"The only real highlight for us tonight was the character of the team of having that ability to fight back," Stuart said.

"I don't think we needed a wake up call but that's a timely game for us to play in that fashion for us to improve. We certainly will improve on that."

The Kiwis hardly deserved to be on the losing end of the scoreboard, having all but sewn up the contest with two tries to centre Iosia Soliola in the second half.

Despite the loss New Zealand coach Brian McClennan said he was heartened by the display, but knows his side needs two wins in its final brace of matches to be any chance of defending its title in the final.

"It's disappointing to lose, we're all shattered, but in the context of it all we can see we're getting better," McClennan said.

"Next week if we can improve on that we're going to go pretty close to jagging our first win.

"When we got the drop goal to be up by seven, that was a pretty handy lead to have, we just didn't consolidate and finish off the game but we're all pretty pleased that we've improve a lot from last week."

The Kiwis started the match at a furious pace, the Australians clearly missing the presence of big prop Willie Mason in the early exchanges.

David Kidwell almost gave them the perfect start when he was held up over the line after six minutes, but it only delayed the inevitable with Shontayne Hape scoring a minute later.

The Kangaroos started working their way back into the contest but were frustrated by an inability to finish off manoeuvres, winger Matt King twice denied tries by the video referee.

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