New Zealand boosted its confidence when it trounced closest rival Australia 30-14 in a Tri-Nations test at Eden Park on Saturday, 75 days before the Cup final takes place at the same stadium.
The All Blacks and Wallabies are favoured to meet in the final as the world’s two top-ranked teams and New Zealand’s comprehensive victory, in front of 54 000 fans, awarded it a valuable psychological edge as it attempts to end 24 years of World Cup failures.
New Zealand hasn’t lost a test to Australia at Eden Park since 1986 and lengthened its unbeaten run in all tests on the ground to 22 matches in a streak dating back to 1994.
First- half tries to centre Ma’a Nonu and hooker Keven Mealamu, a second-half try to winger Sitiveni Sivivatu and 15 points from flyhalf Dan Carter allowed New Zealand to retain the Bledisloe Cup which it has now kept from Australia since 2003.
Carter lifted his points tally in tests to 1 219, improving on the international point scoring record he wrested last week from England’s Jonny Wilkinson and increasing his lead over Wilkinson to 24 points. He kept a perfect goal-kicking record with three conversions, two penalties and a dropped goal which was only the third of his 82-test career.
The All Blacks’ tenacious defence held the Wallabies scoreless at halftime — when they led 17-0 — and in total for 52 minutes, until winger Digby Ioane scored and Quade Cooper converted Australia’s first try. Flanker Rocky Elsom added a try another two minutes from the end, also converted by Cooper, to ensure the Wallabies out-scored the All Blacks 14-13 in the second half.
Flyhalf Cooper had been billed as the key figure in the match, the ignition point of a dangerous Wallabies’ backline, but the All Blacks’ steady pressure and suffocating defence denied Cooper the chance to regularly set that backline in motion.
Instead, the All Blacks, from a majority share of possession and a sound set-piece base, produced the most incisive attack play of the match. They built on solid scrums, efficiency at the breakdown and the sharp work of inside backs to frequently test the Australian defensive line.
Scrumhalf Piri Weepu, who started a test for the first time this season, cleared possession quickly and mostly with accuracy from breakdowns, creating the initial space that was exploited by Carter and by Nonu in midfield. Wingers Sivivatu and Hosea Gear were hungry for work and ran strongly onto accurate and well-timed passes.
New Zealand’s kicking game was more effective than Australia’s. Cooper kicked too deep in the early stages of the match whereas Weepu and Carter sought to use kicks the All Blacks had a chance of retrieving. Backrowers Richie McCaw, Keiran Read and Jerome Carter, playing with the ball mostly in front of them, were able to achieve an advantage over their Australian counterparts, Elsom, David Pocock and Ben McCalman.
“I think our intent and purpose was there,” McCaw said. “Pressure was the key. If you get up by a few points, we put the pressure on and that’s what it was it was all about.
“Defence wins these games, and we put a lot of work into that this week. That sums up the attitude.”
Lineouts were relatively evenly contested, though the All Blacks used quick lineouts early in the match to establish a tempo Australia fought hard to contain. New Zealand even ventured to run the ball out of deep defence, showing a confidence and even an audacity which was unusual in a test which was expected to be close and hard fought.
That tactic more than anything revealed New Zealand’s rising self-belief as the World Cup neared. They had a sense of assurance in almost all aspects of their play, but particularly in the defence that rendered Australia’s backline much less of a threat than was supposed.
New Zealand sought to play with width and did so effectively. Australia had fewer chances to attack from depth and with width but still showed fragments of its attacking potential in the work of scrumhalf Will Genia, Cooper, fullback Kurtley Beale and wingers James O’Connor and Ioane.
“They were in our face all night. There was some space there, but we weren’t turning that space into points,” Cooper said.
“It was one of those nights, a lot of 50-50 balls that didn’t come off. You can’t really win the game when you are going backwards.”
Scores:
New Zealand: 30 (Ma’a Nonu, Keven Mealamu, Sitiveni Sivivatu tries; Dan Carter 3 conversions, 2 penalties, dropped goal)
Australia: 14 (Digby Ioane, Rocky Elson tries; Quade Cooper 2 conversions).
HT: 17-0. — AP