View photosKEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - They said it would never happen again. It was supposed to be the whole rationale for endlessly rotating and building depth.
So it will be with some particular intrigue that the nation awaits this week to hear why it was that the All Blacks were left
exposed at centre once again.
How come we had to watch Stirling Mortlock - yes him, the balding geezer who had it all over Leon MacDonald in the 2003 World Cup semifinal - once again canter through the All Black midfield at his leisure?
The All Black coaches say they had no option. Conrad Smith was injured, MacDonald was injured. Ma'a Nonu was left at home on account of just not being all that good.
But maybe Nonu would have been better than playing someone out of position. Luke McAlister is a gifted second five-eighths. He's not a centre, though, just ask Mortlock. The Wallaby skipper said he would target McAlister and find some space.
And he was right. Twice Mortlock busted open the All Black defensive line in the second half and both times he did it the Wallabies scored and clawed their way in front.
It was a stark and painful reminder that the All Blacks are not invincible. Their depth stretches only so far and in one-off tests the Wallabies can raise the standards and punish any side.
All Black coach Graham Henry was offering no excuses in defeat. For him it was simple: "We had a number of chances and didn't finish them. They finished stronger in the final 20 minutes and I think they deserved the win.
"The Wallabies are a very good rugby side. Maybe New Zealanders will find this hard to handle."
The All Blacks deserved to be punished. They appeared to have set their sights on being functional, rather than clinical. It was an exercise in efficiency for them, almost as if they had calculated exactly how much energy they needed to expend to ensure the victory.
Maybe the fatigue from the toils of last week accounted for some of the sloppiness. No question the influence of referee Marius Jonker impacted on the All Black gameplan.
Sure, the two sides packed down often enough but that's as far as Jonker would let it go. Even that, though, must have spooked him a bit because he decided to give Carl Hayman 10 minutes in the bin for handling on the ground.
That was a big 10 minutes. That's when Mortlock made his second charge and fed Scott Staniforth who went under the sticks for the winning score.
The first Wallaby score had come when debutant winger Adam Ashley-Cooper was allowed to crash through Rico Gear's weak tackle.
Because of Jonker's influence, no one can really say whether butterball Matt Dunning is as improved as he tried to convince everyone during the week.
"I think both sides will be pretty frustrated with the scrums," was Steve Hansen's vastly understated view.
Nor could the All Blacks build the same kind of platform that was key to their victory in Durban. For go-forward they relied on the quite incredible work-rate of the backrow.
Richie McCaw was close to the levels he reached this time last year when Henry reckoned it wasn't possible to play any better and Rodney So'oialo played as if he hadn't heard the final whistle from last week.
As for Jerry Collins - he played like Jerry Collins and one can only wonder how much this side would miss him if he was ever hit by a meteorite, or exposed to kryptonite.
But take those three out and the All Blacks didn't offer much else. They played as if there was no need to hog the ball and indulge in a war of attrition.
They didn't seem to believe the Wallabies posed any real threat. They took the view the Wallabies could have all the possession they wanted - there were periods, after all, in which they simply mounted one aimless attack after the other, with all the intent of a teenager charged with cleaning their room.
The All Blacks, on the other hand, indulged in guerrilla-style tactics. They scored the first time they made it into the Wallaby 22 when Tony Woodcock picked up from two metres and was driven over.
Gear sneaked in after some snappy passing mid-way through the first half and the All Blacks appeared on their way.
By the end of the first half Australia had run out of ideas. Everything in their meagre playbook had been tried and no one fancied being a hero for the night.
Lote Tuqiri, a wing whose talent has clearly been made homeless as a result of the major upgrade and expansion of his ego, was reduced late in the first half to booting the ball, rather than attempting anything so rash as a counter attack.
But then Mortlock did what he does best and broke Kiwi hearts.
Australia 20 (Adam Ashley-Cooper, Scott Staniforth tries; Stirling Mortlock 2 pen; Matt Giteau 2 con) New Zealand 15 (Tony Woodcock, Rico Gear tries; Daniel Carter pen, con). Halftime: 6-15
