By WYNNE GRAY
When Jonah Lomu scored his late Bledisloe Cup match-winner, coach Wayne Smith finally let himself go.
In the coaches' box high in Stadium Australia, Smith grabbed assistant coach Tony Gilbert and selector Peter Thorburn in joyous embrace.
It had been a hell of a rollercoaster journey for the world-record 109,874 crowd, the players and the coaching staff as the All Blacks upset the World Cup champions 39-35 in perhaps the most extraordinary game in test rugby history.
Even when the All Blacks sprang to a 24-point lead in the opening seven minutes, Smith did not raise a smile.
He knew the Wallaby resilience, and that they had not touched the ball. He had also been through the tough times in the last two years, watching the All Blacks wilt under pressure.
That nightmare pattern reappeared as the Wallabies cut into the lead, drew level at the break and went to an early second-half lead, before a superb solo try from Justin Marshall and the late clincher from Lomu claimed the epic win.
Only then did Smith's emotions break clear.
The spirit that he, his staff and captain Todd Blackadder had worked so hard to build had held and delivered.
It had taken some blunt reinforcement at halftime. Blackadder later paraphrased his instructions.
"We have to just keep attacking. Regardless of the result, we are not going to give in," he told his team. "Let's go out and face them, eh. Don't be intimidated."
This was not test rugby as we knew it. It was crazy, head-scratching stuff born out of both sides' desire to play with immense pace and intensity.
"We lost it in the last two minutes, not in the first seven," Wallaby skipper John Eales lamented as everyone tried to make sense of the madcap evening.
The first part showed what everyone knows. Give the All Blacks some ball and a little room and they can sting even the best defences. They had some luck, too.
A charge-down of an Andrew Mehrtens punt spun crazily behind the Wallaby line and as Chris Latham tried to scoop it away to Joe Roff, Tana Umaga pounced for an intercept try.
In their own 22, Mehrtens spread the ball wide to Lomu, who beat several then threw an overhead pass inside to Pita Alatini backing up for the try.
The kickoff did not go 10m - a Wallaby fault for much of the night - Norm Maxwell grabbed it, Alama Ieremia scissored with Mehrtens and found Alatini, who sent Christian Cullen racing to the line.
Three converted tries and a penalty from Mehrtens inside seven minutes, and the Wallabies had only touched the ball to restart. This was manic rugby against the world champions. This was not Tonga or Scotland.
Smith knew the dangers and then saw them realised.
"We had to be realistic. You get a 24-0 lead against a very poor team and you can give them a hiding, but not the Wallabies. We had to halt the momentum at halftime."
That second phase showed some All Black weaknesses. They were exposed at the lineout, and the Wallaby pack were all over them in the second quarter to produce two tries to Stirling Mortlock and another to Joe Roff.
The defensive pattern went awry, tackles were missed all round the park. The All Blacks had surrendered their huge lead and were struggling for possession in the wackiest half of rugby in Bledisloe Cup history.
Inspiration was demanded. It came from Marshall, in a surging, angled 35m run past several defenders to swerve past a flailing Latham on the line.
The Wallabies were struggling for goalkickers. Mortlock had the flu and waived a few shots. John Eales tried and missed two kicks and replacement Andrew Walker another, while Mehrtens goaled from the sideline but had trouble with several longer shots in front.
With seven minutes left, Kiwi-born Jeremy Paul smashed in at the corner for a one-point Wallaby lead and the All Black gallantry looked spent.
They got back to the Wallaby goal-line, but replacement Mark Hammett missed his skipper with two lineout throws.
It had to be Advance Australia Fair - until the miracle.
With one final flurry the ball went along the line, Taine Randell got it with two defenders all over him but handballed a magic pass to the charging Lomu. The big man surged away from Stephen Larkham's despairing tackle and tiptoed along the touchline for another 15m as the whole of New Zealand bellowed at him to put the ball down.
It was close, very close, just like the whole outrageous match. For the third time the All Blacks had stopped a record-equalling Wallaby 10-test winning streak.
"We'll take it," was Gilbert's laconic aside after this tumultuous start to the Tri-Nations.
Rugby: Winning ecstasy explodes tension
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