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It was one of the more puzzling decisions from referee Marius Jonker on an evening when he confused most at the McG.
For much of the opening Bledisloe Cup test, he unveiled the new referee rotation system at scrums, finding alternate fault with the All Blacks then the
Wallabies to emphasise his lack of conviction about the villains.
It was an awkward night for scrummaging, the surface was slippery but the All Blacks had a regular nudge on the Wallabies yet suffered similar penalties. Even John Connolly could not camouflage that All Black advantage.
"New Zealand have got a great scrum, very clever, very good but we are getting better," he said.
But it was Jonker's decision to sinbin Carl Hayman which took the most bizarre award and contributed to the defeat as the All Blacks ceded two converted tries as the tighthead prop sat in the naughty chair.
Hayman paid the penalty for an earlier indiscretion from Aaron Mauger, who cynically took out Matt Giteau behind an attacking Wallaby ruck. The All Blacks were issued with a general warning about fouls in the "strike zone" and told the next offender would be sinbinned.
Five minutes later Hayman was pinged for playing the ball on the ground out near the 40m line and was shown the yellow card. The strike zone had widened considerably and while the Wallabies later infringed in similar desperate late circumstances, they kept an entire side on the field.
No excuses as the All Blacks said before the test and were forced to reiterate afterwards.
They muffed several scoring chances, Rodney So'oialo and Mauger spilt catches most players would not have been in a position to attempt. But these blokes are the best, they demand the best of themselves.
They began quickly and for much of the first half they were as feverish as the Wallabies were uncontrolled. The tactic seemed to be to score and then hang on, a feeling which was reinforced when half the bench was emptied near the break.
But the lead was only 15-6 and the All Blacks were unable to score for the last 54 minutes as the Wallabies scrambled to find their defensive line and some forward control.
The scrum shenanigans destroyed one All Black area while their lineout was patchy and their work at the breakdown sloppy. The Wallabies sensed the troubles and ordered route one rugby.
Stirling Mortlock broke but had the blinkers on with Lote Tuqiri outside before prop Guy Shepherdson suffered the same vision defects. The warnings were coming, not just from Jonker.
Hayman went to the bin, Adam Ashley-Cooper beat Rico Gear, Richie McCaw and Chris Jack's tackles to score and then Mortlock provided the massive midfield surge and skyhook pass for Scott Staniforth to swoop.
The Wallabies ran the clock down and the All Blacks reality check was complete. They had run out of steam - strangely no reconditioning mentions this week - but perhaps more disturbing they had run out of ideas.
Australia 20
All Blacks 15
