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Wallabies blow Bledisloe chance

16th August, 2014
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Kurtley Beale needs to straighten up and fly right... With the ball in hand. (Photo: Paul Barkley/LookPro)
Roar Guru
16th August, 2014
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The Wallabies have stopped the All Blacks claiming a world record 18th win a row, but were below par in their 12-12 Bledisloe Cup draw.

At a rainy ANZ Stadium the Australians were close to pulling off a historic win but could not break through the concerted Kiwi wall, despite the men in black being down to 14 players on two separate occasions.

It was a tense final 11 minutes when Kurtley Beale tied the scores up with a vital penalty.

With two minutes left the Wallabies piled on phase after phase, but the All Blacks defence held, and a mistake when an Australian player left his feet meant a famous victory got away from them.

A draw was probably a deserved result. The Wallabies were mistake ridden, poor from kick-offs and often error-prone at the lineout, while the All Blacks were not much better.

It was a rare poor performance from New Zealand who, although ferocious in defence, were mostly pedestrian in attack and their ball-handling was a tad sloppy.

Both teams were largely off their games and struggled to handle the drizzly conditions.

The Wallabies had the better of the refereeing, adding further frustration that they won’t get a better chance to beat their trans-Tasman rivals any time soon.

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Without Dan Carter and Conrad Smith the All Blacks were a little flat but they started much stronger than their opponents. They went into halftime 9-3 ahead after a drab first 40 minutes.

The Wallabies kept making schoolboy errors – Israel Folau taking the ball out in the 2nd minute, an offside from a kick-off on 4 minutes, Rob Horne losing it forward on 18 minutes, holding on in the 26th and 28th minutes, a ball carried back into the 22 for a kick into touch on 34 minutes – and they added up.

The All Blacks were making some mistakes of their own though – Dan Coles dropping the ball with a try beckoning on five minutes, Aaron Cruden missing a penalty on 14 minutes, a knock-on in the 24th minute and a Ma’a Nonu knock-on in the 31st minute.

Rarely does any team play mistake-free rugby, but this wasn’t pretty from either side, and to beat this All Blacks outfit you need to play near-perfect football.

The Wallabies had some promising spells and enterprising play, flashes of the attacking flair the Tahs so brilliantly demonstrated in Super Rugby, but the Kiwi line would not be broken. Several times they man-handled the boys in gold into touch or forced turnovers.

For Australia Nathan Charles was impressive in just his third Test, while skipper Michael Hooper was again a standout, the most likely to break tackles with the ball in handle. Will Skelton had a big impact off the bench and is pressing hard for a starting spot.

The Wallabies got most of the 50-50 calls and with two All Blacks binned, knew they should have done better. Both of the yellow cards were justifiable, but a touch on the harsh side, as I’ve seen those infractions not given. Expect Steve Hansen to take aim heavily at ref Jacob Peyper this week.

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The next time they meet, in the graveyard for Australian rugby that is Auckland, the Wallabies won’t be so lucky.

While they can take some heart from the fact that they kept the Kiwis try-less, and had them on the back foot for large spells of the match, they need to improve.

Follow John Davidson on Twitter at @johnnyddavidson

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