The All Blacks ran out 32-19 winners over the Wallabies to complete the four-game Bledisloe Cup series with four straight wins on Saturday.
The Australians took an early 6-0 lead through stand-off Matt Giteau’s two penalty goals.
But New Zealand pulled one back with stand-off Dan Carter’s penalty and snatched the lead with left winger Sitiveni Sivivatu’s converted try for 10-6.
After Carter added another penalty goal, Sivivatu was sin-binned for 10 minutes for a dangerous tackle, allowing the Wallabies to fight back.
Right winger Peter Hynes put an end to Australia’s 270-minute try-scoring drought against the All Blacks by touching down at near the right corner to regain the lead at 14-13, with Giteau making it 16-13 to end the first half.
But the All Blacks gave only one penalty goal to the Wallabies in the second half with right centre Conrad Smith adding one try and Carter two penalties and a conversion.
”We had to win the break down. We were getting beaten there. They were a bit more eager there and had the muscle on us in the first half and we couldn’t get our game going,” said All Blacks
skipper Richard McCaw.
”So that was the key for the forwards to get a bit of go forward there and we did that and played at the right end of the field and put some pressure on.
”And defence. We forced some errors. The guys put some big hits in around the fringes and you’ve got to do that to get some critical turnovers and we got the points we required,” he added.
The All Blacks defeated the Wallabies 22-16 in Auckland in July, 19-18 in Sydney in August and 33-6 in Wellington last month.
It was a seventh straight win for the All Blacks against the Wallabies, stretching their record to 81 wins against 32 defeats and four draws in the Bledisloe Cup series since 1931.
New Zealand led the overall record against the Australians with 110 wins, 45 defeats and five draws.
It was also the first game of the All Blacks’ six-game Northern Tour against Wales, Italy, England, France and the Barbarians.
They will play Wales on November 7 in Cardiff, Italy on November 14 in Milan, England on November 21 in London, France on November 28 in Marseille, and the Barbarians on December 5 in London.
After Tokyo, the Wallabies will leave on their first grand slam tour of Britain and Ireland in 25 years starting with a midweek match against Gloucester on Tuesday. – AFP
