Key events
Summary
Full-time: Australia 21-43 New Zealand
Yellow Card New Zealand! (Fihaki, 76)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 21-43 New Zealand (Daugunu, 67)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 14-43 New Zealand (Wright, 54)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-43 New Zealand (Moorby, 43)
Half-time: Australia 7-36 New Zealand
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-36 New Zealand (B Barrett, 40)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-29 New Zealand (Sititi, 33)
Yellow Card Australia (Williams, 32)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-22 New Zealand (Williams, 29)
TRY! Australia 0-22 New Zealand (Ioane, 25)
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 0-17 New Zealand (Lakai, 21)
TRY! Australia 0-10 New Zealand (B Barrett, 18)
TRY! Australia 0-5 New Zealand (Moorby, 12)
Kick-off!
New Zealand XV
Australia XV
Preamble
Summary
Jonathan Howcroft
Thank you for joining me this afternoon. That concludes our winter and spring international rugby season on this particular page. I’ll leave you with Jack Snape’s on-the-whistle match report form Accor Stadium, and bid you farewell.
The Wallabies lived up to pre-match fears that an increasingly threadbare squad had reached breaking point. Only Max Jorgensen emerged with any great credit from a performance that lacked cohesion in both attack and defence. Isaac Henry, Harry Potter and Declan Meredith all had their moments, but they also indicated they are not the players capable of beating the All Blacks on a dry track when both teams are committed to running the ball.
For the half an hour before the interval there was a real lack of leadership and presence in gold, which Les Kiss will be keen to fix before next year’s world cup.
In the first half, when the game was live, the All Blacks were imperious. Their back row monstered the Wallabies, setting up quick ball for McKenzie to have a day out with. For the second week running he was excellent, feeding his runners with precision, keeping the defensive line on the move, and pulling the correct rein when a score was in sight. Beauden Barrett remains top class, Josh Moorby was excellent, and Rieko Ioane coming off the bench is the very definition of strength in depth. Their 37 points to half-time flattered Australia.
“I’m surrounded by a great bunch of men who make my job easy,” purrs Cody Taylor.
“Not good enough,” admits Harry Wilson. “We’ve got to start better, we can’t get that far behind the All Blacks.”
He credits the effort late on but bemoans it as “too little too late.”
The second half of that contest will not live long in the memory. Credit to Australia for digging in, but this afternoon was all about that scintillating first-40 effort from the All Blacks.
Full-time: Australia 21-43 New Zealand
The All Blacks extend their winning streak over the Wallabies to 13 matches. It’s a run that doesn’t look like ending any time soon.
79 mins: The 13-man All Blacks slow the game down, milk the phases, and run down the clock.
78 mins: Despite playing against just 13 men the Wallabies lack the direction to engineer space. It’s little surprise when the ball goes to ground after Henry tried to feed Canham through a keyhole.
77 mins: Australia get to work in attacking territory, but it’s slow disconnected phase play.
Yellow Card New Zealand! (Fihaki, 76)
Suaalii stood up Fihaki one on one on the left wing. The debutant executed the tackle, but he didn’t get particularly low, so when the two men clashed heads it left the TMO and on-field referee little room to manoeuvre. The All Blacks will see off the game with just 13 players.
76 mins: There’s another long TMO intervention, this time scrutinising an All Black tackle that could have collected Suaalii in the head.
75 mins: It’s not crisp but it is effective as offloads and hopeful passes keep finding their targets before McLaughlin-Phillips makes another impressive dash – but he loses in contact on the ground and the All Blacks can take a breather.
74 mins: The All Blacks put their heads down and bums up inside their own half to grind the game down. Then the bomb goes up, it’s contested and Australia are forced to scramble near their 22. Harry McLaughlin-Phillips does well with his first carry as the Wallabies resume their last ditch efforts.
73 mins: Harry McLaughlin-Phillips is now a Test rugby international.
72 mins: Another shonky All Black lineout, this time picked off by Williams. Daugunu reaches halfway on the counter on the right before the ball goes through hands to the left. Australia are desperate to run deep lines but New Zealand’s defence is up too quickly to shut down any space. The Wallabies are determined to keep the ball alive at all costs and that makes for some funky passes, and clunky bobbles. Jorgensen almost pierces the line on the right, then Meredith through the middle, the latter supported by Wilson, who is stopped in his tracks and play returns to an earlier advantage.
71 mins: 14-man New Zealand take their time in possession, milking the clock, and they’re gifted a penalty by Daugunu who ignores the instructions of the referee to continue playing on the ground when warned not to.
70 mins: Can Australia inject some life into things? That’s a hard no. From behind the scrum Meredith engages the line then misses his burst runner.
69 mins: Awful lineout fumble on a short throw by the All Blacks. The tension in this contest has evaporated into the western Sydney sky. This is typified by New Zealand being forced to play with just 14 after spending all their replacements.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 21-43 New Zealand (Daugunu, 67)
… and that desperation is rewarded handsomely! Wright takes a cheeky short drop-out that catches New Zealand unawares. Suddenly there are gold jerseys flooding forward at speed with the All Blacks miles out of position. Daugunu almost scores on the initial play, but he won’t be denied on the second phase. This has been a commendable effort from Australia in the past 20 minutes.
66 mins: The lineout is solid, the maul forms, and from it Taukei’aho shears off like a ricocheting bullet, but as he crosses the line there are three gold jerseys holding him up! Superb desperation from the Australian defenders.
65 mins: New Zealand are awarded an offside penalty near halfway that invites them to kick towards the left corner.
Play has now been recalled all the way back to Meredith’s near-try by the TMO! This is a crazy intervention, miles after the incident. He thinks Roigard committed foul play by kicking the ball out of Meredith’s hands in the act of scoring the try. He clearly didn’t. Thankfully Luke Pearce is on top of it all, handles the situation superbly, and communicates calmly to both skippers. Magnificent on-field refereeing, awful intervention by the TMO.
64 mins: Australia come again from halfway. Suaalii sets it up with an ambitious looping pass. Jorgensen toes ahead and regathers. Then he kicks again, but he’s tackled in the process so there’s no gold jersey to chase the black defenders. In broken field New Zealand counter and Roigard is suddenly so far ahead of his colleagues in space he practically stops to invite support runners to join him. They come on the left and two passes later it’s B Barrett v Meredith on the left wing one-on-one. Barrett kicks ahead – but Meredith wins the chase, then does enough on the ground to avoid conceding the penalty! Brilliant defence from the No 10 just seconds after he was denied a try.
62 mins: Australia get another opportunity to run out of their 22 behind a scrum. Daugunu hits the line hard, Bell supports quickly, Canham is effective, then Meredith is through! He only has Moorby to beat! He jinks one way, then the other, the try line approaching, he’s scragged, but his momentum carries him over the line – then as he reaches out to touch down the pill is knocked from his grasp! Agonising for the No 10.
60 mins: Another Australian attack comes to nought before it has chance to bed in. The TV coverage has shown Wright’s anguished face repeatedly today with the fullback failing to dovetail with his outside back colleagues coming out of defence
Meanwhile, behind play, Shannon Frizell goes down with nobody near him. The big forward hasn’t been on long but his day might already be done with some kind of leg injury.
57 mins: Finally some momentum for the hosts. Canham is powerful up the guts, McReight is busy, and halfway is breached with gusto. But then it all falls apart as the New Zealand defence rushes up with menace, forcing ball carriers backwards. Daugunu finds himself in quicksand, as does De Lutiis and a promising move ebbs away. The eventual kick down the right channel is allowed to bobble out of play. Australia infringe at the lineout and the visitors kick clear.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 14-43 New Zealand (Wright, 54)
Wilson picks up the ball behind an unconvincing scrum and Australia lose territory as their midfield stalls. Finally Jorgensen injects some magic with a jinking run down the right to set up front foot ball on the 22. Finally the backs connect: Meredith to Suaalii, to Potter – who is hauled down inches short, but Wright follows up and dives over in the corner. After a long period on the back foot, finally something for Sydneysiders to celebrate. That was all about the excellence of Max Jorgensen on the right wing.
Lonergan slots over a very good conversion to provide another reason to cheer.
53 mins: Sititi smashes another chink in the gold armour allowing Fihaki to canter into open field. Inexplicably he leaves the ball behind attempting to grubber on the 22 and Australia can counter. Lonergan runs the ball the other way but there’s no connection and both teams have a little breather. The edge has gone out of this contest somewhat. It’s now just a matter of how many points the All Blacks can pour on if they remain disciplined enough.
52 mins: Wilson taps and runs from halfway but gets flattened. The ball comes out slowly to the left but there’s a handling. The Wallabies look absolutely shot. They look a full weight division outmatched here.
50 mins: New Zealand feed a scrum on the 22. Lakai drills his way into the gold line, Moorby follows up, but he can’t recycle and Lonergan and Tizzano complete a well-executed turnover.
Dave Rennie replaces his entire front row in one fell swoop.
47 mins: New Zealand grind their way through the phases in their own half. Tavatavanawai puts a dint in the line on the right, allowing McKenzie to showcase his quick hands on the inside and set runners away on the left. Play stalls by the 22 but phases 12 and 13 are solid with S Barrett and Sititi throwing their weight around. Finally, about three minutes into the drive, there’s a loose pass to the left and the attack finally runs out of road. That might be the first time New Zealand have mounted a purposeful attack without scoring all match.
44 mins: The All Blacks have been irresistible going forward but Australia’s defence has been abject. They are staring down back-to-back 50-point shellackings.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-43 New Zealand (Moorby, 43)
Williams is back on the field and he wins lineout ball near halfway. Henry is strong to accept contact, then Bell shoves his way over the gainline. It’s slow from the Wallabies as New Zealand force them backwards and it’s no surprise when an errant pass from behind the ruck lands in front of Salakaia-Loto and the All Blacks counter at pace! Lakai is devastating on the burst into broken field. McKenzie enforces the squeeze with a kick in behind that’s recovered his side’s way. As phases build Moorby threads the eye of a needle on the left wing, dummying dramatically, then slipping along the touchline and in at the corner.
McKenzie piles on even more points.
41 mins: We’re back under way in Sydney.
Half-time: Australia 7-36 New Zealand
The All Blacks are very very good with ball in hand. Australia are being reminded of their place in the international rugby pecking order.
CONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-36 New Zealand (B Barrett, 40)
Australia claim the dropout and mount another siege. With the half-time siren approaching they cut to the right, but it’s all bit slow and too close to the defensive line. Suaalii offloads under pressure high to Jorgensen, who attempts to keep the ball moving, but his next move is telegraphed, Beauden Barrett reads it, plucks the simple interception, then runs 90m virtually unopposed to rubber stamp his team’s dominance.
McKenzie just about adds two more points.
39 mins: The lineout is solid, the maul forms, but it’s undermanned and the All Blacks hold it up. Australia head infield with Wilson and Nasser shoving the gainline inches forward. McReight picks the ball off the floor of the ruck and launches himself over bodies like an NFL running back on fourth and one – but he’s held up and New Zealand survive.
38 mins: The All Blacks concede an offside penalty in possession allowing Australia to kick to the right corner. Can they capitalise?
37 mins: Australia secure lineout ball and invite Valetini to bulldoze into the black wall. The Wallabies recycle but quickly run out of room on the right with Potter throwing an errant pass.
36 mins: From the halfway scrum New Zealand run to the right but lack cohesion and Meredith does well to win the turnover on the ground.
34 mins: Meredith’s short kick-off doesn’t carry 10m. 14-man Australia are drowning, not waving. The All Blacks could run up a cricket score at this rate.
