The Wallabies stopped the All Blacks claiming their world record 18 wins in a row, but have also blown their chance of extending their own run of eight-straight victories.
In the terrible, rainy conditions the Australians were very close to knocking off the All Blacks, but it just wasn’t to be for either side in the end.
Mistakes were the story of the game, with both teams making their fair share.They were weak defending in the lineout and were often unable to get some consistent offence moving through the park.
Here are the grades for each of the starting Wallabies, with ‘A+’ being the best, going all the way down to an ‘F’ if need be.
1. James Slipper – ‘B-‘
Slipper was not really pushing hard on attack at the start of the game, going to ground easily when being tackled and looking like he didn’t really want to run at all.
His scrummaging was his saving grace in the first half, helping to push the All Blacks back and in a certain case, helping to win an opposition scrum.
Slipper then began to play hard in the second half and was subbed off near the end of the game.
2. Nathan Charles ‘B’
Your first start at international level, I can only imagine, would be very daunting. But your first international start against the All Blacks? Wow! Charles really held himself together well in a starting debut where so much was on the line.
At the start of the season no one ever saw Charles in this position. But due to two injuries, here he is.
Charles played pretty well in the lineout. Australia lost three of their own lineouts, but this was more due to jumping and handling issues in the wet and slippery weather.
3. Sekope Kefu – ‘C+’
I don’t know if it was just me, but I looked everywhere and hardly saw him. This was most likely due to him having his head constantly buried in a breakdown. He played well in the scrum however, and his offensive performance was ok, running four times but for only 13 metres.
4. Sam Carter – ‘A’
Great play on both attack and defence. He also had a superb game in the lineout, winning three of his own balls, the most in the game. He was very involved in the offence and ran the ball 11 times for 44 metres made.
5. Rob Simmons – ‘C+’
He did well commanding the lineout, which would have been much harder against the All Blacks then it was against Les Blues. This time he called a plethora of jumping options (other than himself) and was always involved at the breakdown.
6. Scott Fardy – ‘C’
He was involved quite heavily in the offence but gave up costly penalties, i.e. rolling over the advantage line.
7. Michael Hooper – ‘A’
You just have to look at him play for two minutes and you think to yourself ‘this is why he is our captain.’ He is so fast and energetic on the field and really stuck it to Richie McCaw.
His decision not to take the three points straight away at the end of the first half was costly in a sense, but Beale ended up missing the kick anyway.
8. Wycliff Palu – ‘B+’
Played a strong game and was heavily involved in the attack. Also played well on defence and was scrummaging well behind the two second rowers. He ran the ball nine times for 36 metres and played a strong game at the breakdown.
I would have to go with a ‘B’ for the overall backline grade. They played tight as a unit, but made too many costly errors in the wet.
Israel Folau was the only true standout in the backline, purely due to the amount of metres he ran (59) and busting five tackles.
Kurtley Beale did not have the best game at fly-half and the team would have been much better off with Bernard Foley starting due to his recent form.
The next Bledisloe Cup match will be this Saturday at Eden Park, Auckland.
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