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The All Blacks have beaten the Wallabies 37-20 in Yokohama, Japan to wrap up the 2018 Bledisloe series 3-0.
The bookies and most fans had already decided that the All Blacks were a dead cert for the win, and while the final score makes the victory look comfortable, there was a lot to be positive about from an Aussie point of view at half-time. Sadly the Wallabies struggled to put together a full 80-minute performance, and as the clock ticked down, the All Blacks took advantage of opportunities and showed their clinical class to run away with the game.
In the opening 20 minutes or so both sides were fighting to get into some sort of rhythm. The Aussies had their fair share of the ball and put some good early pressure on the All Blacks, with Dane Haylett-Petty going very close to scoring in the corner. But it was the Kiwis who struck first, and where the Aussies were perhaps struggling to be effective in that final move, the All Blacks took their opportunities.
The first try saw the All Blacks stretch the Wallabies by using a number of phases to hit hard with the forwards and then stretch the defence with moves out to one wing and then back the other way. In the end Liam Squire got the ball and was head-to-head with Kurtley Beale. Beale came off second best and, to be fair, made a poor effort of stopping the back rower, who was then able to run in from ten metres out and score the opening points.
The Wallabies showed that they wanted to get the scoreboard ticking over by asking Beale to slot a long-range penalty instead of going for the lineout, and slot it he did. While the lead wasn’t big, there was a growing gap between the teams in terms of effectiveness. The Wallabies were full of adventure but arguably tried to do too much fancy stuff before they done any of the boring hard work.
Their skills were also shown to be a bit lacking at times – passes were forced and balls dropped or moves slowed down and the All Blacks made sure the Aussies couldn’t get going.
(Matt King/Getty Images)
The second All Blacks try was worrying for the Aussies. Kieran Reed picked up from a five-metre attacking scrum and almost walked over. That’s an exaggeration, but Ned Hanigan was slow to get off the scrum and attempt a tackle and Will Genia chose to leave him to it and cover the potential threat outside rather than the definite and immediate threat of Reed with ball in hand and a metre from the line.
It was these sorts of choices that highlight a key gap between the sides. The Wallabies have plenty of talent within their squad but they don’t always execute well enough and they make too many poor decisions.
To be fair to the Wallabies, they did shift tactics towards the end of the first half and had good results. Instead of running across the field and spinning it wide, they used their power players to hit the ball up and made good ground. They ran hard and straight and the All Blacks couldn’t stop them gaining metre after metre. This worked well and the Wallabies were able to turn plenty of phases into a good try for Sefanaia Naivalu just before half-time.
Aussie fans would have hoped that their team noticed how much more of an effect this direct approach was havingand would continue it in the second half, and in that key period after half-time the Wallabies made more ground, with Bernard Foley slotting another penalty to get the lead down to just four points with plenty of time.
The Wallabies had the momentum and had found a method of playing that the All Blacks were struggling to stop. Unfortunately the next 20 minutes saw the game totally fall away from the Wallabies as the All Blacks stepped up to another gear.
Ten points from Beauden Barrett, a try from Ben Smith and a yellow card to Tolu Latu and the game was done with 12 minutes still to go.
(Matt King/Getty Images)
The try from Barrett was impressive – the All Blacks had a scrum with a small blind side. The first pass from the scrum unsurprisingly went to the spacious open side and the Aussie defence went with it. But then in a flash the ball had been spun back to Rieko Ioane, who was screaming down the blind side. With the defence wrong-footed, Ioane used his pace and power to make good ground and then offloaded to Barrett, who had screamed up in support. The fastest No.10 in rugby was never going to be stopped from there as he ran in another try and highlighted another gap between the teams – the ability to make first phase set plays really count.
The yellow card to Latu was an overreaction from the referee. Codie Taylor and Latu were having a bit of a disagreement after a dominant scrum performance from the All Blacks. Taylor pushed Latu and Latu pushed back, but he pushed back on Taylor’s face.
This caught the attention of the referee and television match official and then the ref went to his pocket. He didn’t need to – he could have seen that it wasn’t an overly aggressive retaliation from Latu and it deserved a strict talking to and not ten minutes on the bench.
To be clear, the yellow card didn’t decide the game. The All Blacks were 14 points ahead with 12 minutes to go and were not going to be caught. However, the yellow card definitely killed the game there and then.
Ironically the Wallabies scored while Latu was warming the naughty step as Folau danced over for another try, but it was too little too late. A final All Blacks try from Ioane wrapped up both the game and a very nice passage of play from the Kiwis, including a between-the-legs, Fiji Sevens-style final pass from Beauden Barrett that was pure rugby gold.
The All Blacks will have been very happy with the performance and the result. Damian McKenzie was good at fullback and Richie Mo’unga was very good coming on to play No.10 later in the game. Having him and Beauden Barrett on the field at the same time gives the Kiwis an alarming amount of playmaking potential and other sides are going to struggle to live with that.
In the end it was sort of the same old story – the Wallabies showed periods of potential but never had the skills or the tactics to live with the All Blacks for 80 minutes. Few can, to be fair.
So the Wallabies will now head to Europe, where they will play Wales on 11 November. The Roar will have live coverage of that game, but before that there is plenty of time to contemplate what will happen if this spring tour only results in a win against Italy and losses to Wales and England.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.