The All Blacks have answered Steve Hansen’s challenge to complete a three from three whitewash against the Wallabies this season.
It was a much improved performance from the Wallabies but they were unable to hold out the world’s number one team, going down 41-33 in Dunedin.
The Match
Quade Cooper was booed in the warm up indicating the All Blacks fans haven’t let go of their grudge against him; yet by the end of the game those boos had been silenced.
The emotions were running high with Wallaby debutant Peter Betham tearing up during Australia’s national anthem.
The indoor field of Forsyth Barr Stadium produced great conditions for running rugby.
The opening period of the game was promising for the Wallabies with Israel Folau making a break but soon after confusion at the back of the ruck between Ben Mowen and Will Genia gave the All Blacks the scrum feed. The Wallabies were able to win the scrum and then win a penalty giving Australia a three point lead.
The Wallabies then put good pressure on the All Blacks at the breakdown the get back in their 22.
An accidental offside from a knock-on gave Aaron Cruden the chance to equalise but he missed.
In the 10th minute Israel Dagg picked out a mismatch against Stephen Moore to put Julian Savea in the corner. Aaron Cruden added the extras to bring the score to 3-7.
Mistakes from the Wallabies in the All Blacks 22 were letting the Wallabies down and negating any pressure build-up on the All Blacks.
Quade Cooper slotted a drop goal in the 15th minute after having a penalty advantage.
From the restart the Wallabies knocked it on and Tevita Kuridrani picked it up from an offside position giving away another penalty. Aaron Cruden slotted to extend the All Blacks lead to 10-6.
The All Blacks earned another penalty in the Wallabies 22 to put the score to 13-6.
A deliberate pass from WillGenia into an offside Tony Woodcock gave the Wallabies another penalty to close the gap at 13-9.
The Wallabies hit back at criticism about their scrum to earn several penalties.
Desperate defence from Quade Cooper and Ben McCalman saved a try from the All Blacks but it wasn’t long before a cross field kick set away Julian Savea who passed infield to Dagg who then put Sam Cane in under the posts. Cruden converted to bring the score to 9-20.
The Wallabies earned another penalty in the 32nd minute to stay in touch at 12-20.
The All Blacks hit back immediately through a scrum penalty to stretch out to 12-23.
The score was 12-30 as Aaron Cruden converted his own try off the back of some great interplay between the All Blacks.
The Wallabies hit back before half time through Adam Ashley-Cooper after Matt Toomua made a break in the midfield. Quade Cooper added the extras to bring the Wallabies within 11 points. 30-19.
Turnovers and handling errors were hurting the Wallabies and they needed to turn it around if they were to have a chance in the second half.
The Wallabies gave away another penalty in the Wallabies 22 to extent their lead by another three points. 33-19.
Ben Smith pulled down Tevita Kuridrani just short of the line after an inetcept but support from Matt Toomua allowed him to cross for five points. Quade Cooper continued his good form with the boot to bring the Wallabies back in the game. 33-26.
After Craig Joubert ruled a deliberate knockdown from Peter Betham the All Blacks turned down three points to go for the corner.
The All Blacks earned another penalty and this time took the option to take the three points to keep the scoreboard ticking over but a miss from Aaron Cruden kept the score at 33-26.
Quick hands from the All Blacks allowed Kieran Read to cross over in the 52nd minute to once again extend their lead to 38-26.
Tevita Kuridrani was threatening with a line break in the 60th minute but couldn’t link up.
Poor discipline from the Wallabies gifted the All Blacks another three points. 41-26.
After a cross-field kick to Folau, Kuridrani crashed over for a try. 41-33.
A break Israel Folau created a big run for Sekope Kepu. Once again the Wallabies were unable to get the final pass away to support players and overcome the effective scrambling defence from the home team.
A large period of running rugby then presented several opportunities for both sides and neither the All Blacks or Wallabies tried to kick the ball dead and end the game.
The game ended in the 82nd minute at 41-33.
Wrap up
The match was an excellent advertisement for the game with end-to-end running. The Wallabies can come away proud of their performance. There were several outstanding performances from the Wallabies, though it was hard to go past the backline combination of Quade Cooper, Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani. Hopefully, the Wallabies can continue to improve their running game and solid form as they head to Europe to take on the Northern Hemisphere heavyweights.
