The All Blacks continued their incredible dominance over the Wallabies at Eden Park, and Australia’s coach Dave Rennie, producing their best performance of an inconsistent year to sweep the Bledisloe Cup 2-0.
After a torrid and scoreless opening 20 minutes, the hosts piled on 17 unanswered points in seven frantic minutes. Unlike a week ago, where the Wallabies overcame an 18-point deficit to lead before late heartbreak, the All Blacks simply went on with the job on Saturday as the Wallabies dissolved into errors and missed tackles.
Their 40-14 win was the fifth game running they’ve piled on 30+ points against the Wallabies and the only comforting fact was it was an improvement on the record 57 points shipped here the last time Rennie brought his team to Auckland.
But the loss was Rennie’s seventh, with one win and one draw, from his nine games against New Zealand. His overall coaching record must be a concern, although Rugby Australia boss Hamish McLennan guaranteed the coach would keep his place through until the end of next year’s World Cup in France.
Rennie bemoaned the officiating in Melbourne last week, and put the blowtorch on his players when they were thumped in Argentina earlier this campaign. As a coach he has had 15 loss, three draws and 11 wins from his 29 games in charge since joining in November 2019. That’s a win percentage of 37.93.
Brett McKay, Harry Jones, Jim Tucker and Tony Harper pick through the bones on the Instant Reaction podcast
Rennie has constantly complained about his team’s lack of discipline, and there was no escaping the issue again. Jed Holloway was yellow carded on two minutes, setting the tone.
“It was a massive disappointment,” said Rennie. “Gave away too many penalties, lost the collisions and gave the All Blacks field position and they put us in the corner and hurt us. We were shaded in all areas tonight.
“We know when we’re at our best, we can compete with anyone. But we’ve got to be in and around 100% every week. Otherwise, if we’re under par we get hurt like we do against good sides like New Zealand.
“The yellow cards hurt,” he added.
“The first one we got away with but it sucked a lot of energy out of us. We defended and scrambled. When you lose your hooker it’s hard to get our structure down. It hurts in other ways. We’ve got to turn pressure into points. We didn’t do that enough. And we coughed up too much softball and penalties which gave them field position.”
The All Blacks pressure was relentless, and unlike Melbourne they never backed off.
Nic White of the Wallabies scuffles with Akira Ioane. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
“One thing about lack of discipline it’s not always because of foul play or poor decisions it’s because of the pressure the All Blacks are putting them under,” said former Wallabies player Drew Mitchell on Stan Sport.
“Because they are feeling so much pressure it means that they’re entering the breakdown wrong or going off their feet. They’re just they’re under so much pressure to halt that momentum that the All Blacks have.”
For Ian Foster, who came close to the brink of a sacking earlier this campaign, his team was the clear club house leader in the Rugby Championship with South Africa needing a bonus point a 39+ win over Argentina early Sunday morning (AEST) to stop the All Blacks from claiming the trophy.
“I’ve forgotten about the rollercoaster,” Foster said of the weird journey he has been on this season.
“I’m just happy in the moment. We’ve come into a championship, we’ve had, in our mind, the hardest draw by having both Tests against South Africa in South Africa, got one out of two in that space, we’ve let ourselves down in Christchurch, but our response to that has been really positive.
“We look at the last half of the championship and we’re really pleased with what went in. All we can do is deal with what’s in front of us right now. I know we’ve got a buffer (against the Boks) – whether it’s enough I don’t know. But we’ve given ourselves a chance and that’s all we want.”
The All Blacks couldn’t get on the board until a penalty in the 20th minute but then they settled into a groove.
Pete Samu, who was otherwise strong, gave away a penalty for leaving his feet deep in All Blacks territory and the hosts screamed down the other end. Will Jordan finished off a sharp move – his 21st try in his 21st Test – leaving replacement Jordan Petaia, on for injured Lalakai Foketi in his dust.
A penalty try followed within minutes and the All Blacks went to the sheds 17-0 up after Marika Koroibete blew the Wallabies’ best chance, stepping into touch before placing the ball down in the left corner.
Australia had more chances but the New Zealand defence was excellent, repelling raid after raid, while – more ill discipline – Dave Porecki spent time in the sin bin, which denied them the chance to play their game.
The All Blacks came out the stronger from the break, and were helped by some strange calls by referee Andrew Brace who missed a late hit on Len Ikitau by Ethan De Groot and another where Reece Hodge collected a head in his face. Nic White was put in his place by Brace for arguing about De Groot’s hit, and there’s a sense building that officials are getting sick of the Australian verbal approach
But Rennie can have few complaints.
“After 10 days ago in Melbourne when there was so much hype and so much opportunity for the Wallabies to come to Eden Park… their performance where they’ve missed so many b tackles, one-on-one tackles, 25 missed tackles in this match, and gave away too many penalties,” said Tim Horan.
“It’s such a fortress. It’s just been another masterclass from this All Black team.”
All Blacks great Andrew Mertens said: “It was just hard to see how the points accumulated so quickly. It didn’t help the Wallabies being down to 14 men a couple of times.
“But when the All Blacks are able to just lift that tempo, it’s very hard for a team to stay with them. Their support play, their communication, their skill level is all normally a cut above. They haven’t been quite as consistent this year as they would have liked in terms of their skills, but when it comes together it’s something to watch.”
Wallabies captain James Slipper bemoaned his team’s discipline. “I’m gutted the way we played tonight. It just wasn’t good enough. We had a lot of confidence coming in, but the ABs are too good, clearly.”
Allana Ferguson said the Australians “crumbled” under the pressure. “They weren’t able to transfer it and transfer it and it happened in different ways through the game.”
Former Wallabies lock Justin Harrison defended the effort, if not the execution.
“It’s important to recognise that New Zealand don’t have a mortgage on the jersey and national pride Harrison said. We have the same amount of pride. We had some adversity thrown at us. We had 25 missed tackles and 13-14 handling errors. That’s not a lack of pride. Let’s erase this thing that New Zealand have a fear of losing so they never lose.”
Marky
Roar Rookie
Bloody hell, I remember the game at Lancaster Park from that tour. Agree Sevu should’ve got a red, then again so should’ve the Wallaby clear out in the second minute- shades of Umaga Odriscoll. I thought the ABs got the rub of the green then rewatched the game and the calls seemed to go both ways. End of year is looking interesting for all the SH teams.
Fox1
Roar Rookie
ill discipline from the same favourite players is Rennie’s issue and must address it directly. But rather, he initially defended Swain’s act that didn’t even merit a yellow card.
Breakaway6
Roar Rookie
Wondering how long Rennie’s obsession with Brumbies players and coaches will end when clearly the results are terrible and falling deeper? Clearly, he’s a conservative coach who heavily depends on his favourite players, mostly Brumbies, to do the job for him. But it’s not working. After almost three years, Rennie must admit that his favourite players have consistently rewarded and failed to meet expectations. These favourite players (bar for Valetini and Samu) performed in small gaps, disappeared, and never close to whole packages. These are fundamental flaws that will repeatedly condemn the Wallabies, and now heading towards a bottom team unless Rennie has to change his approach to selections. Rennie has chosen over half of a 35-man squad to play for Australia from Brumbies’ players. Even more on Australia A side. All these because the Brumbies went one step better than the Reds and Waratahs and the Force were unlucky to miss out. The Force has no player in the Wallabies but was very unlucky not to beat the Brumbies 39-38. The Reds was the best Aussie team last year, but the Brumbies still dominated selections. Rennie even picked Brumbies’ second and third stringers to tour Europe and didn’t win a game. This year the Reds outclassed the Brumbies 21-7 in Brisbane and should also beat the Brumbies in Canberra when Iona held back Fraser McReight in the last minute for a 16-12 win for the Brumbies. Yes, the Brumbies were the best Australian team during the trans-Tasman this year when, honestly, the Waratahs and Reds especially were hard-hit by injuries. At last, the Brumbies’ players should not dominate all the best players in the country. It creates an unbalance self-confidence in other players.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Yes he is slow to arrive Rugger. I watched him last game and it seems as if he has a little breather once he has passed the ball. Pass- watch play- kick into gear- get to ruck - damn, late again.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Ace, to be clear I liked Rogers. One hear at the Tahs, at 10, he had the ball on a string, Larkhamesque even. Then he got injured. Lote was good too. And Dell. I loved big Dell. One party, one sniff too many, and he was gone. I was sad for him and rugby. Btw you left out Mark Gasnier who had a couple of seasons in France. And loved rugby. So much so that he invented a Tag version of it. Yes Rocky was great, but did he play rugby before he went to the Bulldogs? There is a reason NRL forwards don’t cross over. And it is not just because they’re ‘not asked’. Too many nuances in rugby pig skills required. Not enough time.
Norm McDonald
Guest
Harrison's response was little more than a sook throwing the toys from the cot. Through out the course of the game he whinged and whined as the Wallabies succumbed to the constant pressure applied by the ABs
Rat
Roar Rookie
Hi Mr Editor,can you tell me why my submission was withheld? Regards,Rat.
Gepetto
Roar Rookie
Can you guys please set up a webcam aimed at Taniella Tupou's bathroom scales. I'd like to know if there is any chance our forward pack can adequately compete with other scrums in the future.
Objective
Guest
Sadly, the once proud Wallabies have descended into being the perennial victim a la Italy and at one point (no longer), Argentina. The "poor old us" mentality has them now playing the dumbest Rugby of all Tier 1 nations, by which they know the illegalities, but still enact them, only to claim persecution when they get caught out. The single biggest problem we have here in Aus is that purely and simply, the best footballers play AFL or NRL. And by "best" I don't just mean skill, but also smarts. The next biggest problem we (the game) has is that it's become a terrible spectacle. Even Rugby diehards like me are turning it off in droves. That's not deserting the sinking ship, it's the simple fact that we're all time poor, and the few hours I have to devote to entertainment, I'd rather watch something that excites me rather than infuriates me. Bloody hell, I even enjoyed the Aus v NZ soccer more than the Bledisloe Test.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
It's pretty apparent looking at the comments, that they're pretty clueless on rugby and are pretty much cut and paste criticism from game to game. We obviously need to counter the maul because its costing us try after try. We need to stop criticizing the refs because that has never worked in history and once they get on a roll we get under pressure and aren't able to handle it. It's apparent the Oz team can't play well two weeks on the trot. It good, bad, good, bad, constantly. Other teams have this problem as well. The ability is there to beat very good teams on a good day but doing it two weeks in a row isn't going to happen any time soon. This team can challenge for the World Cup.
Two Cents
Guest
Fantastic response and very clearly and articulately explains exactly why Australia is in the position it is in currently in world rugby and what its likely trajectory will be going forwards. The home RWC fills me with dread of what will likely be just more lost opportunity and disappointment. Decades of wrong-headed thinking by the sports' administrators have stripped the game of its spirit by treating it as a business instead of understanding that the commercial success lies in the performance success, not the other way around. And you only get performance success by embracing the fundamentals, doing the basic things right week in week out and taking control of the game through your dominance of set piece and the breakdown. Australian rugby has committed the most cardinal of rugby sins which is that you turn your back on the fundamentals of the game at your own peril. Continual weakness and failure at the highest levels is entirely symptomatic of this truth as players have been funnelled through the myopia of Super Rugby programs into the national team when they lack the all-round qualities that are required to compete at the international level. Sure, there have been natural talents abound but natural talents do not translate into a talented team without proper organisation and leadership, neither of which the organisation behind them, Rugby Australia, has shown the slightest ability of being able to produce. I agree that game-to-game performances should not matter and that people shouldn't be lamenting the defeats to superior teams and programs as somehow indicative of a deeper problem in and of themselves. Instead, they should be seriously examining why as a long-term prospect we haven't enjoyed any success in any level of competition since 2015 despite the amount of cash that RA has been throwing at the game and why it is that we keep coming up short, depending on the turn of a friendly card rather than being able to secure definitive results on our own terms. New Zealand did this after being knocked out of the '99 World Cup and even though it meant that they didn't regain the Bled for 4 years, they really broke down their game and improved all those little things so they could put it all together when they were ready. And sure, it took until 2011 for the results to flow from the World Cup but over that period they have held the local silverware unbroken and largely unchallenged. Add to that that they are far in a way the most successful franchise across the Super Rugby and Tri Nations/TRC and there is just so much that RA could and should learn from.
graymatter
Roar Rookie
I think we might all be missing the point a little? I think we have some pretty good centre candidates. We must have because we managed to let Irae Simone go to France! To be honest I don't think we are far off in most of the positions. We did manage to win a couple of tests against sides ranked above us! What we do need, however, is a couple of world class halves! For me this is the key missing ingredient in our play. At 5/8 our best options are both injured. At half back we have no options - All the current candidates are sub-standard. We need "discover" some 9s and world class 10s.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
I’m being charitable
Jacko
Roar Rookie
0-13 was the anomally tho. 8-7 is where they should be.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
No it hasnt. We won one and lost 2 games to the irish. Thats 4 trophies from a possible 5 this year. That seems ok to me. What did you expect?
Jacko
Roar Rookie
When did I hire you as my manager Ken? And how much am I paying you to mention me in your posts?
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Nah that was Hewson kicking the winning goal thru that flour haze Winston. :laughing: :laughing:
Ruckit
Roar Rookie
Ref also told White he would send him from the field of a derogatory remarks he heard was directed at him. Then told him to be very careful. Also noticed foley was much quicker with penalty kicks. The two must have had some formal warning after their bled 1 behaviour.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Meant Jed, sorry
Geoff
Roar Rookie
:laughing: