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The All Blacks have beaten the Wallabies by 17 points in Japan to complete a three-nil clean sweep of the 2018 Bledisloe Cup.
After winning both of the home and away games during the Rugby Championship earlier this year, the teams took their third game to Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, with an eye to the 2019 World Cup, which will be held in the Asian nation.
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It took little time for the All Blacks to hit the front and assert their dominance over the contest. After controlling much of the early going and picking up a penalty, New Zealand went for the kill with Liam Squire scoring down the right edge.
Beauden Barrett converted to make it a perfect start for the All Blacks, but Kurtley Beale got the Wallabies on the scoreboard soon after, icing a penalty goal from 45 metres out.
It didn’t take long for the New Zealanders to take their lead back out to seven points though, with Barrett kicking a penalty goal of his own.
The All Blacks looked like they were going to start skipping away with things when Kieran Read scored in the 35th minute during the crucial period before halftime, but with Sefa Naivalau scoring for Australia and both of those tries being converted, the Wallabies were able to cut the lead to just seven at the halfway point of the match.
The sides then traded penalty goals during the early going of the second half, before Barrett landed a killer blow for New Zealand, sending the lead to 14 with a converted try in the 58th minute.
The Wallabies weren’t helped when Tolu Latu was sent to the sin bin in the 67th minute for pushing Codie Taylor in the face, but by that stage, the match was all said and done with the Wallabies having little chance of recovery from their ordinary position.
With Australia down to 14 men, a Ben Smith try put the game beyond all reasonable doubt with ten minutes to go, even if Barrett missed his first shot at goal for the day.
Australia grabbed a consolation try in the 75th minute through Israel Folau, but any hope of a crazy comeback was dashed when the kick-off was dropped and Rieko Ioane scored straight afterwards to finish the game on a high note for New Zealand.
All Blacks 37
Wallabies 20