The All Blacks defeated the Wallabies 28-14 in Perth, showcasing discipline and control.
Quinn Tupaea and Leicester Faingaʻanuku delivered standout performances, boosting the All Blacks’ midfield and wing options.
A potential Grand Slam tour could boost player confidence and aid Scott Robertson’s planning.
Well done to the Springboks for winning the Rugby Championship. They remain the yardstick for excellence in world rugby. It’s not being parochial to suggest that if you’re the best team in the Southern Hemisphere, you can pretty much guarantee you’re the best team in the world.
Butwell done also to the All Blacks. The 28-14 win over the Wallabies in Perth was fully deserved, and the margin could have been even greater. In the process, the All Blacks should surely have calmed down some of the pessimistic comments they always get, many of them bizarrely from their own country, when they are not totally dominating the rugby world.
Of course, at times it has been a bumpy ride in 2025 for the All Blacks, with the low point obviously the 43-10 thrashing by the Boks in Wellington. The Springboks were unrelenting in the capital last month, and the level of intensity we saw on the field from the men in green then was sometimes matched by the grim predictions of local commentators.
We saw two things you might not have expected in Perth. One was pelting rain. And you might not have anticipated that the All Blacks would close out the game in a way that hasn’t always been easy for them this year. After 67 minutes, the score was 20-14 to the All Blacks. It could have been the start of a nerve-wracking danger zone. But they stayed in command to chalk up their bonus-point 28-14 win.
Australian critics, reluctant to give too much credit to New Zealand, bemoaned how sloppy the Australian lineout was, but couldn’t really (as they did after the 33-24 loss at Eden Park) blame the referee. The penalty count in Perth was 14-14.
This is a good Wallabies team, but the All Blacks showed more control in most aspects of the game, from respecting the offside line, to tackle height.
Two yellow cards for the Aussies, against none for New Zealand, spoke volumes about composure.
Scott Robertson's men go into their end-of-year tour with a key victory in Perth behind them. Photo / Photo / SmartFrame
Man of the match
Quinn Tupaea took over the No 13 jersey as if the only position he’d ever played was centre.
There was something deeply fitting that the Hamilton man’s match-winning display came against Australia. Three years ago, it felt like a possibility Tupaea’s career in rugby might be over, after what was euphemistically called a clean out at a breakdown by Australian lock Darcy Swain during a test in Melbourne – the brutal clash ruptured ligaments in Tupaea’s left knee.
Leicester Faingaʻanuku made a dynamic return to the team on the wing and doesn’t appear to have lost even a fraction of the speed he used to display for the Crusaders and the All Blacks before he left to play in France in 2023. His return bolsters the All Blacks’ wing stocks to a huge degree, as well as giving even more options in the midfield.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Leroy Carter showed again how he is a threat every time he gets his hands on the ball. And the number of times he’s in position to get the pill is a reflection of how eager he is to be constantly involved. Fainga’anuku and Carter look like the best combination on the flanks the All Blacks have fielded this year.
On the front line
Given that Australia has had the huge benefit of coaching from New Zealander Mike Cron – quite rightly recognised as a guru when it comes to the mysterious, dark, sweaty world of the scrum – it was a tribute to the skills of New Zealand’s forward coach, Jason Ryan, that the All Blacks pack didn’t just hold their own at the scrum, but were able to win penalties.
Yesterday’s men?
The idea has been floated that the All Blacks are no longer held in high esteem by opposing teams or overseas fans. So it was interesting to see that a crowd of 60,000 sold out the stadium in Perth for the Bledisloe Cup game.
For the test against Ireland at Soldier Field in Chicago, 47,000 tickets were sold in three days. Having been lucky enough to watch the All Blacks play at packed grounds around the world, I’d suggest the demise of the All Blacks’ drawing power is more a case of grumpy keyboard thinking than reality.
Will the end-of-year tour be a success?
It’s certainly possible. Four games are scheduled, including one against Wales in Cardiff and one against Scotland in Edinburgh. Poor Wales, once the toughest assignment on a European tour, are now the embarrassingly easy beats of the Six Nations. And history suggests Scotland won’t upset the All Blacks either. The Scots first played us 120 years ago, and have yet to come away with a victory.
If the All Blacks can beat Ireland in Chicago, then a rather unusual Grand Slam result (given the team won’t be playing in Dublin) could be earned with a win over England at Twickenham. A key factor could be that the top All Blacks line-up could be rested against Scotland the week before the test with England.
