The All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe Cup with ease, smashing a disappointing Wallabies outfit 41-13 at Eden Park on Saturday night.
It was a disastrous night for Australia coach Michael Cheika, whose bold selections fell flat against the might of New Zealand, who dominated in almost every aspect to run away with the five-tries-to-one win.
Quade Cooper had a horror night, shown a yellow card for a high shot on Aaron Smith as the New Zealand scrumhalf charged towards the try-line in the 48th minute. Referee Nigel Owens awarded a penalty try, which gave New Zealand their second try of the night.
The All Blacks crossed twice more, through Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith, while the enigmatic five-eighth was in the bin before he was replaced by Kurtley Beale – much to the chagrin of the 48,457-strong Eden Park crowd, who were all too happy to rub it in.
But Cooper and the rest of the Wallabies backs were behind a soundly-beaten forward pack, and could do little to stop the world champions once they settled into their groove.
The result adds another year to Australia’s long wait for the Bledisloe Cup and continues their miserable record at Eden Park, where they have not won since 1986.
It also poses a new range of questions to Cheika and the Wallabies staff ahead of the naming of Australia’s World Cup squad on Friday.
For New Zealand, it was an emphatic response to last week’s loss in Sydney and the perfect way to farewell six veteran stars – among them skipper Richie McCaw and Dan Carter – who were likely playing their last Test on home soil.
McCaw was playing in his 142nd Test which makes him the most capped international rugby player in history.
The Wallabies knew the opening minutes would be critical and made a suitably strong start, looking assured and confident as they took a 3-0 lead through a Cooper penalty.
But the hosts quickly wrested back control of proceedings, owning the set piece before showing in the 22nd minute just how small the margin for error is against the All Blacks.
Buried in their own territory, New Zealand absorbed all the pressure from a lengthy passage of Australian attacking play and then threw it straight back at them with a stunning 80m counter.
Hooker Dane Coles was the unlikely man who finished the move, unleashed through the middle by Dan Carter, who then converted to put the All Blacks 10-3 ahead.
Australia barely fired another shot in attack beyond that point, save for a 40m consolation try in the dying minutes to Israel Folau, which no player dared celebrate.
Highlander
Guest
Australia were beaten by New Zealand The Wallabies were beaten by the All Blacks
sione lolohea
Roar Rookie
...."The luck started with Smith the fullback getting away with not being whistled for carrying the ball over the tryline"... Please explain the technical issue where Smith was allowed to carry the ball back as long as the ball was in backward motion towards the goal line and each foot planted inside and outside the goal line areas! ...."In scrumland, suddenly the ref, even though he was standing on the other side of the scrum and had not a clue as to what caused the collapse, looked kindly at Franks and penalised S.Sio".... That's because Sio was using a under-arm binding in which he can deploy 2 ways of dropping the scrum 1) pulling his elbow back or 2) hold freeze on the under-arm bind then drop and roll his left shoulder - he was using the first illegal tactic! Sio has been using this tactic all S.15 and Owens is the only ref to have caught onto it - Owens was correct on every collapse scrum call on that side with Sio! Please note that Owens got the signal from the linesman when he was on the opposite side of the scrum.
sione lolohea
Roar Rookie
I like how you blame Cooper but end of the day Cooper did not get go forward ball from his forwards! - Its a 15-man game not a 1-man game! Wallabies forwards were beaten up-front that day. Don;t blame Cooper or your so-called '2nd XV' - those excuses are a joke!
Wyndb
Guest
Like the Black Caps WC final performance!
Loosey
Guest
The wallabies can beat them and the All Blacks know it. We just beat them a week ago. There is no Eden Park in England. This the All Blacks, their nerves in the first 20 showed that.
Loosey
Guest
Aussies are famous for self-belief, optimism and sometimes complacency, which insecure nations like to call arrogance. All Black supporters, you guys, spew arrogant comments on every article on this site, but somehow it's not arrogant when a kiwi says it yeah? Suck it up princesses
Loosey
Guest
"Up until that sin-bin try I thought we were right in the match in a really difficult environment" Cheika's words. But Zero you might want to give up trying on telling All Black fans that, anything less than 'the All Blacks are far superior to us' tends to be taken as an insult...
Loosey
Guest
Get over yourself Chivas, even Cheika has made similar comments
DiploMatt
Guest
He's feeling vindicated...
JB
Guest
It was never running perfect don't let the Sydney result fool you Wallabies were good AB's were well off their best If the AB's played like that in Sydney we would have lost as well, It would have been Lazy and Arrogant for Cheika to sit on his Laurels and not Tinker with the team, the wallabies still have heaps of work to do to find their best 23 and then have them all execute a game plan.
Dittohead
Guest
Think you'll find that Smith had one foot in the in-goal area before collecting the ball, thus enabling him to do what he did. If people are going to be that nit-picky, I counted at least 3 Wallabies in front of the kicker at virtually every (and there were numerous amounts of them) kick-off. But looking at those sorts of things is a poor excuse - outplayed, dominated in virtually every aspect of the game. The Wallabies' only shining light was Folau, and provided he develops a kicking game, would be the only Wallaby capable of making an AB's team.
JB
Guest
zing!
Dittohead
Guest
There's always the one sore loser comment... If by gifted you mean quality AB's play vs unable-to-cope Wallabies defense, then absolutely, gifted.
JB
Guest
The NZ lineout is probably the best in the world and I'd argue that it is the best lineout locking pair NZ have produced. Simmons back in will help but we need to be realistic about our chances against this lineout they are absolute quality. Our boys will get picked off quite easily. Cheika tried going to a 5 man lineout with variations they were just too good.
JB
Guest
Who is the 1st string side if That was Australia A ZG?
JB
Guest
Agreed, there are a lot of people here that are results focused rather than performance focused they will never be able to reconcile a loss on that basis, it must be incredibly frustrating for them.
Chinmay Hejmadi
Roar Guru
Does anyone have these stats for the first 60 minutes? Because the game was over as a contest after the 60-minute mark, and then the All Blacks started throwing the ball around and kicking far less. I suspect a majority of those passes would have been after the fourth try, and a majority of the kicks from the ABs before the fourth try.
Bryce Lawrence from Merewether
Guest
I'm surprised I got that QF after they made me apologise for my performance in the Aust. Ireland pool game. Thought I did ok in my last game before forced retirement. Can't make a bad decision if you don't make any decision. Guess you can't please anyone.
Rob G
Guest
how many behind the back/no look passes did stephen larkham throw. or dan carter/johnny wilkinson/ andrew johns/ johnathon thurston........ the difference is these people don't need that rubbish
Rob G
Guest
quade is special. he is only allowed to play with front foot ball so he looks good. we don't want to hurt his feelings..