Australia suffered their eighth consecutive Test loss to New Zealand and once again missed out on a first Bledisloe Cup series win since 2002, 31-28 in front of a crowd of 68,061 at Sydney’s Accor Stadium. behind. Despite losing narrowly, with the All Blacks failing at least five attempts, the scoreline stunned the Wallabies.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt implored his players to “stay connected” and “catch up” with the All Blacks. But those two tenets soon collapsed as his team collapsed due to horrific mistakes. It took just over a minute for New Zealand to score, with Jordie Barrett breaking through a thin defense and allowing Will Jordan to score unscathed to make it 7- 0.
That’s when the Aussies fumbled their kick-off and dropped a bomb on goal, which quickly eroded the confidence of Wallabies fans. After the attempt, they tipped the ball over in the hammer and were choked by kicks. Soon after, the All Blacks crossed again and Rieko Ioane completed a quick backline sweep to allow the Wallabies to grab the air on the counter-attack.
After nine minutes, New Zealand led 14-0, scoring 100 points in the game. Had Tom Wright not intercepted Ione’s long ball and Adi Saviya passed to another forward, the score could have reached 150. Speechless regret. But most of this group call New Zealand home.
They were soon cheering for their third try, Caleb Clarke scoring twice in the 15th minute, stretching his arm over the line to make it 21-0. The New Zealand defense failed to score any goals in Cape Town last week. Now, on a warm Sydney day, they are like hot black blades slicing through wallabies like golden cubes of butter.
Then, on Australia’s first real attack in New Zealand’s half, No. 8 Rob Valetini recovered a wayward throw-in and tipped it over to Nic White A nice inside pass from Nic White sent Fraser McReight to the line. The Australian team fired the first shot of the Test match 21-7. McCreight gave hope a few minutes later with a power shot and an incredible 40-22 score.
But Australia botched the lineout and Hunter Paisami’s quick pass hit the turf. Sevu Reece sneaked in and hit Savea against the post to win 28-7. But Australia fought back with a five-metre lineout, hooker Matt Faessler peeling off the blindside and trampling Sam Cane to make it 28-14 .
Four doubles and a 14-run lead kept the Wallabies delighted. They gave the All Blacks 61 per cent of possession and were outplayed in most aspects of the game – running the ball (84-36), breaking tackles (23-7), finishing cleanly (7-2) and Offload (9-2). They have lost three lineouts, they are tired and they have made 92 tackles to the New Zealanders’ 36.
Including Santa Fe’s second-half defeat, the Wallabies conceded 78 points in the final 80 minutes of Test rugby. They finished the first half at the start of Sydney’s second half, with Koroibete sending in a loose pass in the first minute. Damian McKenzie scored a penalty kick to make the score 31-14.
However, despite the All Blacks’ multiple crossings, the scoreline did not change as the TMO’s decision spared the Aussies from a deserved blowout score. McKenzie’s flick pass failed once and Savia’s cross was blocked again but failed to land. Latima’s try was then scratched when McKenzie’s pass to Jordan was ruled forward.
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Unlike last week when they scored 50 points in 30 minutes, Australia were lucky and determined to keep going. James Slipper’s run continued in his record-breaking 140th Test, with his team heavily surrounding him. With 15 minutes left in the game, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto broke through the baseline and Paisami charged to make it 31-21 and the game was on its way.
With Linate Brown booked for knocking out Andrew Kellaway, Australia suddenly trailed 14-15 and AB teammate TJ Penelara was lucky to escape when he tackled Tate McDermott inside the line Got his own yellow card. Eventually, Clark was called upon to make a deliberate emergency tackle to prevent another Wallabies raid.
In the 73rd minute, when Paisami passed in, Australia smelled uneasiness. But this time it was the Wallabies who were denied by the TMO, having previously detected Kellaway’s knock. It happened again shortly after when Wilson’s ball to McDermott drifted forward. But in the 78th minute, the dike broke through and Tom Wright scored a touchdown, making the score 31-28.
As Slipper left the field with HIA, only to return in the final minutes, the Aussies emptied the tank in search of a final score. Ultimately, a brave comeback failed to materialize as they lamented early mistakes and poor defensive lapses. Bledisloe disappeared for another year. Although it’s only three points, it could be a million points.
