Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt had implored his men to “stay connected” and “go after” the All Blacks. But both credos crumbled early as his side unravelled with dire mistakes.
It took New Zealand just over a minute to score, Jordie Barrett weaving through wafer-thin defence and leaving Will Jordan to score untouched for 7-0.
At 14-0 after nine minutes, New Zealand were heading for 100 by fulltime. Had Tom Wright not intercepted Ioane’s long pass and Ardie Savea thrown another forward, it might’ve been 150.
Normally a home side would’ve rued a home crowd silenced by so many points. But the majority of this crowd called New Zealand home.
‘Sloppy second halves’
Charlie Morgan, the Telegraph.
New Zealand lurched from imperious to unconvincing as they survived an almighty scare to hold off Australia and retain the Bledisloe Cup despite two late yellow cards in Sydney.
The visitors waltzed into a 21-0 lead within 15 minutes, capitalising on tentative defence and handling errors from the Wallabies to score attractive tries through Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane and Caleb Clarke.
In truth, that advantage could have been heavier and, following a McKenzie penalty, New Zealand had another try disallowed early in the second half. The 80m movement was called back for a forward pass from McKenzie to Jordan.
Inspired by Harry Wilson and McReight, Australia had already begun to assert themselves. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto added dynamism from the bench too, as New Zealand’s habit of sloppy second halves continued from their time in South Africa.
Razor’s sigh of relief
Christy Doran, the Roar.
The Wallabies’ hopes of wrestling back the Bledisloe Cup have fallen inches short.
After being blown off the pitch in the opening 15 minutes as the All Blacks raced out to a 21-0 lead, the Wallabies cut the deficit to three points with a minute to go when Tom Wright crossed out wide and Noah Lolesio banged over the conversion in the 79th minute.
No one breathed a greater sigh of relief than Scott Robertson.
After dropping three of their opening four Rugby Championship fixtures, the former All Blacks back-rower and perennial Super Rugby-winning coach said securing the Bledisloe Cup first-up in Sydney was his most important test.
In total, the All Blacks bombed seven tries - three disallowed and four blown - during the opening 60 minutes in what was a wild rollercoaster.
Robertson, whose blood pressure would have gone through the roof over the past three months, would have been filthy as his side continued to let chances slip through their fingers.
Ultimately, it wasn’t enough as the Wallabies fell tantalisingly close to staging one of the nation’s greatest comebacks.
But as Wilson later said, “Close enough isn’t good enough.”
All Blacks fly out of the blocks
Dylan Coetzee, PlanetRugby.
The All Blacks retain the Bledisloe Cup despite a nervous last 20 minutes in their 28-31 win over the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday.
It was the All Blacks who flew out of the blocks early, with Will Jordan making the most of his late switch to fullback after Beauden Barrett’s withdrawal by finding a pocket of space and showing his acceleration to score in just the second minute. Mckenzie was on hand to kick his first conversion of the day.
The visitors did not let up as they looked to double down on their fast start, finding plenty of space down the left side to set up Ioane for yet another Bledisloe Cup try in the ninth minute as fly-half McKenzie had no issue with the kick.
It would always be difficult to keep the All Blacks out again, and they got rewarded for their defensive pressure as Sevu Reece picked a loose ball to play in Savea, who ran in under the sticks for a converted score, becoming the highest try-scoring forward in All Blacks history in the process.
New Zealand started the second period with some good pressure, leading to a penalty for McKenzie in the 45th minute taking the All Blacks crucially out of the two-converted try difference.
The contest tightened up as the Wallabies grew into the game, leading to a lull in scoring, with the All Blacks scoring two disallowed tries before the hosts eventually crashed over for a converted try from Paisami with 15 minutes to go.
The Wallabies continued to push and finally got their reward with a 79th-minute converted try from fullback Wright, once again converted by Lolesio. This would take the hosts within three points of the All Blacks but it was not to be, as New Zealand retained the Bledisloe Cup again.
‘Early lead proves enough’
Nick Mulvenney, Reuters.
New Zealand scored four tries in the first 25 minutes and held off a late Australian fight-back with 13 men to beat the Wallabies 31-28 in a Rugby Championship thriller at Stadium Australia on Saturday.
The All Blacks were held to one penalty in the second half and lost two players to yellow cards, but their early lead proved enough to earn an eighth straight win over their neighbours and ensure they would retain the Bledisloe Cup for another year.
The Wallabies will take heart from their second-half fight-back, especially after the record 67-27 loss to Argentina two weeks ago.
They were unable to turn pressure into points sufficiently to make up for their error-prone first quarter, however, and their Bledisloe Cup drought will now go on for at least 23 years.
Will Jordan, back at fullback after Beauden Barrett was a late withdrawal, cut through a huge gap in the heart of the home defence to score New Zealand’s first try inside two minutes.
Centre Rieko Ioane added the second in the left corner seven minutes later after some powerful forward runs in the midfield, and winger Caleb Clarke made it 21-0 with the third converted try after little more than a quarter of an hour.
‘Jekyll-and-Hyde effort’
Liam Napier, NZ Herald.
Securing the coveted Bledisloe for a 22nd straight year ensures the All Blacks’ trophy cabinet won’t be bare after losing the Freedom Cup and Rugby Championship following successive losses in South Africa.
After a stretch of three losses from their last four tests before facing Joe Schmidt’s struggling Wallabies, this was another Jekyll-and-Hyde effort from Scott Robertson’s All Blacks where they again squandered three tries through a lack of clinical finishing and, for the fifth test in a row, failed to score in the final quarter.
After dominating the first half, rampantly running in four tries to lead 28-7 after 26 minutes to silence the 68,061 crowd, Damian McKenzie’s 45th-minute penalty proved the All Blacks’ only points of the second half.
It seems no matter what they do, the All Blacks can’t solve their final-quarter meltdowns.
