By Liam Napier in Perth
On a wet Perth evening, the All Blacks delivered their first back-to-back victories of this year’s Rugby Championship to notch a record run of successive wins against the Wallabies.
Missing starters Caleb Clarke, Beauden Barrett, Ethan de Groot and Tupou Vaa’i through injuries, the All Blacks rode a 17-9 halftime lead to record 11 wins in a row against the Wallabies to eclipse their previous best stretch from 2008-2010.
A 28-14 bonus point victory – after scoring four tries to one – gave the All Blacks hope of claiming the Rugby Championship title before the Springboks edged Argentina at Twickenham to make it back-to-back titles.
Inconsistency has been the major frustration for the All Blacks this season after a win and a loss against both Argentina and the Springboks.
Finally, after securing the Bledisloe Cup for a 23rd straight year at Eden Park last week, Scott Robertson’s men broke their form fluctuations to hand the Wallabies three straight defeats.
Quinn Tupaea, after impressive cameos off the bench in recent weeks, led the All Blacks with a man-of-the-match performance from centre – a position he hasn’t started in for the Chiefs in five years.
Tupaea imposed his direct presence from the outset to set up the opening try for Chiefs teammate Leroy Carter. He then scored two tries before Rieko Ioane replaced him midway through the second half.
Leicester Fainga’anuku marked his return to the test scene for the first time in two years with one notable damaging run from the left wing, where he bumped off Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.
And in the other big selection call, Peter Lakai performed strongly in his maiden start at No 8.
While the Wallabies competed throughout, there was little for the sold-out 60,113 crowd to be enthused about with the conditions, particularly as the rain set in during the second half, dictating an arm wrestle and the All Blacks increasingly dominant to overshadow James Slipper’s farewell match.
The Wallabies were on the back foot with two yellow cards – the first to Tom Hooper for a dangerous clean-out on Jordie Barrett; the second to Len Ikitau for his head-clash tackle on Tupaea.
The All Blacks, though, failed to capitalise on both their one-man advantages by not scoring a point in those periods. The Wallabies, meanwhile, kicked two penalties in that time.
And with returning enforcer Will Skelton departing after 14 minutes, the Wallabies endured further adversity.
The All Blacks deserve credit for tactically managing the second half and squeezing the Wallabies out of the contest.
Len Ikitau claimed Australia’s first try with 14 minutes remaining, only for Wallabies playmaker Tane Edmed, who had a shaky night, to miss the conversion to leave the locals six points adrift.
Damian McKenzie, starting in Beauden Barrett’s absence, sprayed seven points – one conversion from in front of the sticks – off the tee earlier in the match but in the second half, he stepped up to slot two telling penalties that pushed the All Blacks clear.
George Bower’s try on fulltime ensured the All Blacks banked the bonus point to put a decisive headline on this performance.
The All Blacks’ challenge is to now absorb their harsh lessons from this tournament – their first loss in Argentina and their heaviest defeat in history against the Springboks in Wellington – to further improve and kick on to their testing four-match “Grand Slam” tour in November (the Ireland test is in Chicago).
Robertson will be pleased with the way in which the All Blacks put the Wallabies away but they didn’t have it all their own way.
After persistent rain throughout the day, the Wallabies initially defied the challenging conditions to regularly break the All Blacks down their right-side defence, their quick hands and short passing proving difficult to contain.
Despite the Wallabies enjoying early dominance, Carter claimed the opening try after the All Blacks turned down a shot at goal to lay the platform for the winger’s third strike in as many tests.
The Wallabies could not capitalise on their attacking potency when Allan Alaalatoa was denied a try after Hooper’s yellow card.
The All Blacks, though, were poor while Hooper was absent. They dropped high balls, gave away penalties, lost lineouts and butchered one sweeping attacking movement to squander the chance to make the most of their one-man advantage, with the Wallabies instead winning that period 6-0.
In a big blow for the Wallabies, Skelton departed after 14 minutes and did not return after failing his head injury assessment (HIA).
Issues under the high ball and at the breakdown continued for the All Blacks but Jordie Barrett took it upon himself to spark his team with two telling grubbers in behind the Wallabies defence.
Harry Potter lost the second grubber into Barrett’s head and Tupaea did a brilliant job to follow through and score to regain the lead for the All Blacks.
With momentum in their favour, the All Blacks delivered a double blow with Will Jordan’s quick tap giving Tupaea the space to fend off Hooper on his way to a brace.
Those strikes proved pivotal in allowing the All Blacks enough breathing space but, as was the case when the Wallabies closed within two points at Eden Park, they had to respond again when Ikitau closed the gap.
Remaining composed improved the All Blacks record this season to eight from 10 but this team remains some way short of reaching their true potential.
All Blacks: Leroy Carter, Quinn Tupaea 2, George Bower tries, Damian McKenzie con 2, pen 2
Wallabies: Len Ikitau try, Tane Edmed pen 3
HT: 17-9
Liam Napier is a senior sports journalist and rugby correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.