Australia 34
New Zealand 19
KEY POINTS:
That was not even close. It was as shabby as the All Blacks have been under Graham Henry; they were disorganised and just way too reliant on Daniel Carter, playing his 50th test, to bail them out of trouble.
The most disconcerting part about the Wallabies' 34-19 victory
was that they are nothing special, not yet. They are still feeling their way under the new tutelage of Robbie Deans.
While they were hanging on in the scrum and playing with a backline who resembled the no-names department of the Australian Rugby Union (Barnes, Cross, Hynds, Ashley-Cooper), they managed to deal to an All Black side and force them into their poorest game of the season.
Openside flanker Daniel Braid went west early, unable to contend with the power and ferocity of the Wallabies in close, Sione Lauaki was ponderous and error-ridden, Ma'a Nonu's hands let him down, Andrew Ellis was slow, Richard Kahui discovered what real rugby was about and Sitiveni Sivivatu was hot and cold, often in the same movement.
It was an entertaining, fast, attacking game of rugby, where the Wallabies' resilience was better than the All Blacks, where they scrambled better in defence and took their chances with Matt Giteau kicking the goals.
Same deal as Carisbrook a fortnight ago where the All Blacks dominated possession, linebreaks, turnovers but made more errors and conceded more penalties.
The All Blacks chose to spread the ball rather than kick for territory and while the tactic may have had merit, too often they made a break but lacked support and were easy kills for the marauding Wallabies.
With 25 minutes of the opening Bledisloe Cup left, the All Blacks held a slim lead before they were buried in the controversial run to the finish.
They were denied a penalty try or at worst a penalty when Sivivatu was tackled as he chased the ball near the shadow of the posts, while the visitors appeared to pull a swifty when replacement halfback Jimmy Cowan damaged his knee and his predecessor Ellis returned to the field.
Much of the match was frenetic because of both teams' attacking attitude and the influence of the new laws policed by referee Craig Joubert and his colleagues.
The All Blacks were ahead in most of the statistics such as possession, rucks and mauls, runs, linebreaks, offloads, lineouts, turnovers and phases but they missed half their tackles compared with the Wallabies' third, and made double the handling errors of their foes. Most tellingly, they gained 811m with their 20 kicks while the Wallabies applied more heat in gaining 1233m with 36 kicks.
The All Blacks have not lost successive tests since 2004 when they were beaten by the Wallabies in Sydney then taken out by the Boks in Johannesburg.
That was a turning point for Henry's All Blacks, when they regrouped and changed their style and their patterns so well they lost only three more tests until their early World Cup exit last year in Cardiff.
Now they have lost a further two to the Boks and Wallabies in a ropey start to the Tri-Nations. So this week is set to be a sweltering cauldron of pressure, anticipation and anxiety before the rematch with the Wallabies at Eden Park.
Before Saturday's implosion and the 2004 tandem trouble, the All Blacks had lost successive tests in 2000 and the previous year at the World Cup semifinal and playoff under John Hart.
"We came back to lead but turned the ball over too many times, which hurt us," coach Henry assessed. "We could not hold on to the ball.
"The game got very fast, we ran out of composure - steam perhaps - and were then playing catch-up."
Henry lamented a number of areas of the All Blacks' work and said the team needed to rearrange the balance of their game.
They had conceded too many turnovers, played too much rugby in their own half of the field and may have suffered from running out of steam.
Backs coach Wayne Smith felt the side played too much behind the gainline and had suffered because they were unable to support breaks when Sivivatu and Carter cut through.
Senior players like Carter, Mils Muliaina, Ali Williams and Rodney So'oialo had coped well with the pace of the test but some of the others had struggled.
Henry did not foresee making too many changes to his side. "We have just got to get better at what we are doing. We have seen the product of guys learning the game at this level."
