The surface, the cheating, the running, the lack of kicking was all we could talk about in the lead up to this match. Of course the fact the good guys hadn’t beaten the blacks for 7 games in a row was brought up a couple of times, but after the kick off, none of it mattered.
First up they swapped penalties, this Giteau kicking the first, shaving the pole, Carter the second. From out of nowhere Drew Mitchell charged down a Carter clearance and put the first try on the board. Giteau again shaved the pole, this time the wrong side and missed the conversion. In order to keep with the ANZAC spirit, the sharing continued and Carter charged down a Barnes clearance, and touched down, his conversion being the difference. The All Blacks got another try off an amazing Corey Jane kick. There was some talk about Mills being offside, but that mattered little after the try was awarded.
There was a glimmer of light for the Wallabies when Ben Franks earned a yellow card for tackling with no arms. The wallabies attempted to punish the All Blacks while they were a man down, but instead Black Seven scored a try for the blacks when Australia failed to secure line-out and a couple of phases later, McCaw swooped on a loose pill and touched down.
There was then a yellow card for Drew Mitchell, for an apparent shoulder charge, though no one can remember the tackle.
Giteau then kicked a penalty for Nonu not releasing, which was marched 10 for the ABs throwing the ball away. This was to be the first of the walks the ref would take in a period of back and forths, leading to Rocky having words.
Corey Jane finished of a backline move to score a try and get the bonus point with the game only 35 minutes old, of a couple of phases after a slick line out move. Very soft tackling from Brown and Genia let him in.
Things didn’t improve for the Wallabies after the oranges. On the 43rd minute of the second half, Drew Mitchell got a second yellow card, and being his second a Red card was issued, for knocking the ball down when the AB’s were trying to take a quick lineout. The wallabies were down to 14 men for the rest of the game.
Mills got his double at the 48th minute mark with Carter adding the extras. This prompted Dingo Deans to use his bench for some tactical replacements(I know, I know, but it actually happened), Rob Simmons on for Sharpie and Saia Faingaa on for Moore. He may have been onto something, as there was then a period of sustained pressure from the Wallabies, leading to a Try to Bam Bam, which was looked at for a long time by the TMO, before being ruled held up. You would have to think that was not the best call, but the rules are the rules and the grounding couldn’t be seen.
The books were righted when AAC crossed after an error from Gits went right and opened a hole for him to run straight in and score.
The restart saw another kick off loss by the wallabies, the possession used to get the ball out to Joe Rokocoko where he touched down for another.
Both teams attacked hard, without getting much until a strong charge from Rocky earned a third try for the Wallabies, Gits adding the extra. I would like to talk about this as a turning point, but another restart error from the wallabies dulled the brief uplift in mood Wallaby fans were feeling. There was a small recovery though, when S.Fiangaa knocked a ball back, which Beale picked up and was almost clean when he was called back for a knock on. Both teams attacked, the ABs seeming to drop, with the Wallabies picking up making it appear an even contest. This changed when Dan Carter noticed there was half an AB team out wide being marked by 2 Wallabies. He spun it wide and Corey Flynn crossed for another meat pie.
There is a lot of work for this wallaby team to do, mostly on restarts and discipline before the return fixture in Christchurch next week if we are going to stop the 8 wins on the trot for the Blacks.
New Zealand 44 (Tries: Carter 11m, Muliaina 2 13m 47m, McCaw 25m, Jane 36m, Rokocoko 59m, Flynn 80m Conv: Carter 4 Pens: Carter 2)defeated Australia 28 (Tries: Mitchell 8m, Ashley-Cooper 56m, Elsom 71m Conv: Giteau 2 Pens: Giteau 3). Ritchie McCaw was Man of the Match.
