The All Blacks will be searching for answers on Sunday after their 20-15 upset loss to trans-Tasman rugby rivals Australia. The problem for the Wallabies, and the rest of the rugby nations heading to this year’s World Cup, is that Graham Henry’s New Zealand team will very likely find them.
”Better to lose now than in October,” All Blacks coach Henry said, referring to the World Cup in France. ”This side does not lose very often and hopefully we will learn from this.”
New Zealand entered Saturday’s Tri-Nations match the clear favourite as the world’s top-ranked team. And as far as Australia coach John Connolly is concerned, the Wallabies’ gutsy fightback that saw them score 14 unanswered points in the second half has done little to change that.
”We think they’re a strong side, they’re still the team to beat, and we’re lucky we got a bit of momentum in the second half,” Connolly said.
Substitute Scott Staniforth scored in the 73rd minute as Australia rallied to beat New Zealand for the first time in almost three years.
After the All Blacks took a 15-6 lead into the second half, Australia made the most of a man advantage when All Blacks prop Carl Hayman was sin-binned in the 62nd minute, scoring two tries in nine minutes to claim an unlikely victory in front of a crowd of 79 322 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
”It was a great effort by us and it has been a long time coming,” said Stirling Mortlock, who turned in a man-of-the-match performance in his first match against New Zealand as Wallabies captain. ”They are a great side and are still the team to beat because of their consistency, but we’ll take this.”
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa now have five points apiece after two matches in the Tri-Nations tournament, and the Wallabies have a 1-0 lead over the All Blacks after the first match of the two-game Bledisloe Cup series — the regular series between the two teams.
”Obviously we’re disappointed in the result. We had a number of chances in the game, particularly early, that we didn’t take,” Henry said. ”But at the end of the day they finished stronger than we did. I thought the Australians played particularly strongly in the last 20 [minutes] and deserved their win.”
The Wallabies got off to a disastrous start when Julian Huxley kicked the ball out on the full to start the match. The All Blacks turned the resulting scrum win into a line-out win in the Australian half before prop Tony Woodcock barged over for a try in the fourth minute to make it 7-0.
Outside centre Luke McAllister then broke through the Wallabies’ defence in the 26th minute, creating an overlap and an easy try in the corner for Rico Gear.
After Hayman was sin-binned, the Australians quickly took the initiative, working the ball within 5m of the New Zealand try line where winger Adam Ashley-Cooper culminated a back-line move in the 64th minute and broke through attempted tackles from Richie McCaw and Chris Jack to score in the corner.
Matt Giteau’s conversion put Australia within reach at 15-13 and Staniforth gave Australia the lead for the first time after Mortlock eluded two tackles in a 40-meter run, drew in the defence and delivered a well-timed, one-handed pass.
Another Giteau conversion gave Australia a five-point lead it doggedly defended for the last five minutes of the match.
Australia, who last beat New Zealand in August 2004 at Sydney, had lost their previous six matches against the All Blacks and have not held the Bledisloe Cup since 2002.
Veteran Australian scrumhalf George Gregan left the field in the second half with a corked leg and his fitness will be assessed ahead of next week’s match against South Africa in Sydney, while the Wallabies will call forwards David Lyons and Sean Hardman into their squad after number eight Wycliff Palu and hooker Stephen Moore sustained injuries in Saturday’s win. — Sapa-AP