Final thoughts
This was expected to be another NZ cake-walk, a pavlova parade if you will. But after getting off to a lightning start that saw Israel Folau score within a minute, and then the Aussies race out to a 17-0 lead in even time, New Zealand dragged themselves back into the contest. After dropping the ball far too often early on, the ABs started to dominate possession and, though the Wallabies defended stoutly, they couldn’t hold on during the second half in which they conceded one penalty after another. But a truly memorable Wallabies win was within reach when Beale scored under the posts in the 76th minute but the All Blacks had time for a killer reply. As they always seem to do.
Thanks for your company. Hope you enjoyed the show. Cheerio.
It was five tries apiece tonight. The difference was the goal-kicking. Five conversions to Barrett, just two from five from Foley who also missed a penalty conversion.
But let’s not forget that the All Blacks came back from 0-17 down. Some effort that. And to have the presence of mind, and the skills, to score the match-winning try after going behind with four minutes to go. You’ve got to hand it to them.
“It was close to a fantastic performance,” says Hooper during the presentation. “We’re learning, were growing each week, and tonight was a big step.”
Kieran Reed then steps forward to receive the Bledisloe Cup. “That’s what the Bledisloe Cup is about. Congratulations to the Australians on a great performance tonight. We had to dig deep.”
So that’s another Bledisloe Cup wrapped up. New Zealand continue to hold the cup they regained possession of in 2013.
New Zealand won the game but the Wallabies’ effort will dominate the news.
Great to watch 2 teams having a go. Proud to see the wallabies not giving up.
— David Campese (@Davidcampese11) August 26, 2017
Passion and pride. Well done. Back on track
Full-time: New Zealand 35-29 Australia
It’s all over! What a thrilling match! New Zealand are ecstatic! Australia gutted. After what happened last week, after everyone writing them off, they almost pulled off what would have been the biggest Bledisloe upset in some time.
80 min: The Wallabies need to win possession from the kickoff but they can’t manage it. NZ need to play it out here... what a finish to this game!
CONVERSION! All Blacks 35-29 Wallabies (Barrett 79)
The ABs’ lead is back out to six.
TRY! All Blacks 33-29 Wallabies (Barrett 78)
And that’s why the ABs are the world’s best! Regaining possession from the kickoff, they work the ball to the Aussie 22m. Then they explode into action. Going right Sopoaga passes to Scott Barrett who passes to Read who makes a lovely inside ball to a charging Perenara. He draws the fullback and finds Barrett backing up on his outside. Barrett scores under the posts!
Updated
CONVERSION! All Blacks 28-29 Wallabies (Foley 77)
No even an out-of-form Foley would miss that.
TRY! All Blacks 28-27 Wallabies (Beale 76)
Aussies back in front! That was so simple. From a ruck on the NZ line Genia passed to Beale on his right and, with Whitelock holding off him, Beale said thank you very much, sport, and ducked through a yawning gap and scored under the posts!
Updated
75 min: NZ offside from a midfield bomb. Reece Hodge, off the bench, takes the touch finder and does a great job. Australia on the attack from 10m out.
CONVERSION! All Blacks 28-22 Wallabies (Barrett)
The mercurial 5/8 makes no mistake but the Wallabies are still within a converted try. They’d be ahead if Foley had kicked all his chances.
TRY! All Blacks 26-22 Wallabies (B. Smith 71)
On the 19th phase Ioane races into space. He’s hauled down but the ABs then go right and put it through the hands. McKenzie sucks Kuridrani out of the line and it creates enough space for Ben Smith to race unopposed to the line!
Updated
69 min: Seven phases get the ABs to the halfway line before a dash from Smith on the right wing threatens momentarily. The ABs maintain possession but the gold defence is holding, holding, holding. After last week this has been a tremendous comeback by the Aussies no matter what happens now.
68 min: Foley misses from 10m to the left of the uprights, striking the uprights for the third time this match! His goal kicking has been awful today.
TRY! All Blacks 21-22 Wallabies (Genia 66)
Genia picks up from the ruck, scoots around its east coast, dummies to the man on his outside and creates enough room for himself to run 15m to score! What a response from the Aussies!
66 min: McMahon and Hooper combine well to haul the tired Wallabies to the halfway line. The Australians then work their way to the NZ 22m.
65 min: Five phases in and Barrett pops through the Aussie line like an apparition through the wall of a haunted house. He then grubbers ahead for himself but he can’t win the race to the ball. Lovely stuff from Barrett.
64 min: Crotty is groggy after catching the hip of a charging Folau. Kiwi scrum being set 40m from Australia’s line.
CONVERSION! All Blacks 21-17 Wallabies (Barrett 63)
From 10m inside the left touchline Barrett knocks it over. That try was coming. Four times the ABs knocked back a penalty attempt this half. On the fourth occasion they made their adventure count.
TRY! All Blacks 19-17 Wallabies (Barrett 61)
From the scrum the All Blacks go the short side and Smith evades Foley to find Barrett running a nice line. Too easy! The All Blacks are ahead for the first time tonight.
61 min: As we wait an age for the scrum Niall writes in to praise the Aussies: “Still think the ABs will run over the top but Wallabies are showing some ‘grit’.”
60 min: Australia offside as NZ attack their line! The Aussies have barely touched the ball this half. Can they hold on? Another AB scrum 5m out from their line.
58 min: The Wallabies breathe easy momentarily but the All Blacks are again pouring towards their line like an oil slick. Another penalty to NZ who have been awarded 8 of the last 9 penalties! Most, no doubt, due to Australia’s efforts to stifle their play. Some, however, have the whiff of mystery about them. But that’s rugby.
56 min: The Aussie scrum holds, Smith fires the ball to a charging Williams. Beale is in his face, takes a big hit and emerges from the collision with the ball in his arms! Huge effort from the Australian.
No try!
55 min: But a penalty has been found from somewhere and the All Blacks will set up a scrum 5m out, 5m inside the right touchline.
Possible try to the All Blacks' Retallick!
From a lineout Savea burrows close to the line before, from a mess of a ruck, Retallick rises from the mess of bodies with his finger in the air. A try is given before we go back to check... there was an Aussie arm under the ball as Retallick wrestled his way over the line but to me it was impossible to tell if it hit the turf.
53 min: Penalty to NZ from 40m out from the Aussie posts. They turn down the likely three points. Great stuff. I love a team backing themselves.
50 min: NZ on the attack now and the crowd rise. Aaron Smith, to Ben Smith to Squire, a long charge downfield. But the Aussies scramble well and, on their 22m, force a mistake from the ABs.
48 min: 40m out from NZ line Foley steps inside Williams. Not enough to beat him but enough to find a pass to Kuridrani who knocks on. The All Blacks counter right and only a fine tackle from Speight prevents Ben Smith from going on a potentially long damaging run down the right wing.
This has become an end-to-end game now.
46 min: The All Blacks push downfield and then, on the left, Ioane bursts into the clear 30m out! But he’s ankle tapped by Genia. From the next play Moody’s pass is intercepted by Beale who immediately lobs it out to Speight. From inside his own 22m Speight boots it downfield.
44 min: Oh, so close! From a scrum on the AB 22m the Wallabies go right and Folau stands up Barrett cold. In space, from 5m out, Folau looks inside for Haylett-Petty but the pass is intercepted by Squire.
Barrett has gone off with a head injury. Can’t be too serious as he jogged off unaided.
42 min: A relieving penalty to Australia inside their own half. The ABs were on the charge but Owen Franks was penalised for obstructing the defence after he ran into two gold jerseys in the defensive line.
Peeeeeeep!
And the Wallabies kick off...
Half-time: New Zealand 14-17 Australia
Phew! What an action-packed, mad-cap half of rugby. After a lightning start by the Aussies, the All Blacks have pegged them back and you’d back them to go on with it now.
Updated
CONVERSION! All Blacks 14-17 Wallabies (Barrett 40)
An easy one for Barrett and that’s oranges.
TRY! All Blacks 12-17 Wallabies (Smith 40)
... and Smith picks up, steps inside Hooper, and crashes over! Despair for the Wallabies to concede on the halftime bell but at least that removes any potential controversy from Smith’s effort moments earlier.
40 min: Another penalty 5m out to the ABs! The Aussies hold the AB scrum momentarily before folding ...
40 min: Massive escape for the Wallabies! After surviving Sonny Bill Williams’ charge tiny Aaron Smith burrows through the defence and finds a way to reach out with his right arm and seemingly force the ball next to the padding of the right upright. The ref goes upstairs to check and it’s determined that Smith just lost control at the last moment. A try every day of the week in rugby league, that, but not here. Smith’s hand certainly rolled to the side of the ball but I didn’t see daylight between his hand and the ball at any time.
38 min: But the ref’s assistant has spotted an Aussie infringement and it’s another penalty to the ABs from the same position, 5m out. Not sure what the infringement was for. Something to do with Julie Bishop, I expect.
37 min: The Blacks choose to scrum 5m out. After a big shove by the ABs the ball comes out from under Read’s boot and catches Smith unawares. He knocks on!
35 min: From a mid-field penalty Barrett finds touch on the Aussie 22m. Here come the ABs pouring forward. But Barrett loses patience on just the fifth phase and, as such, attempts a grubber kick in behind for his right winger. But he doesn’t get enough on it and Genia pulls it in.
But Genia is penalised for not releasing.
33 min: From the scrum Beale drops it and the ABs counter attack beautifully, Barrett finding McKenize who stretches the Aussie defence on the wing. On the next phase Barrett races through a hole and finds Lienert-Brown on his inside before Genia ankle taps him. Great scrambling defence by the Aussies.
32 min: The Aussies cut loose and some slight passing sees Kuridrani motor down the right wing. He’s pulled down but moments later the Aussies win a scrum put-in just 10m out from the Kiwi line.
28 min: Foley leaves his kicking boots in the sheds (1 from 4 now), hitting the right upright. But it rebounds back into the field of play and the Aussies come oh so close to scoring but for a tiny knock-on by Speight.
26 min: The Wallabies attack the left edge and on their 12th phase get to the ABs 22m. On the next phase the Wallabies turn it over as they spin it right. But the ball hits the ground and Ioane pounces and sets off for the line with no-one near him! Here’s a try!
But he’s called back! Folau was tackled before receiving the ball by Crotty, preventing Folau from catching the ball prior to Ioane’s interception. Penalty to Australia.
23 min: We’re spending a lot of time examining a video of a Wallaby forward landing on his head at the ruck. Retallick, it is finally determined, accidentally lifted the Wallaby forward as he rose from the ground causing him to be upended. Hooper not impressed: “So we’re allowed to lift players by the legs and drop them on their head?” he asks the ref. “There was no lift,” the ref explains. “It was accidental.”
CONVERSION! All Blacks 7-17 Wallabies (Barrett 22)
It’s from over the black dot, as they say in league, but he squeezes it over.
TRY! All Blacks 5-17 Wallabies (Ioane 21)
The All Blacks are finally on the board! After winning the lineout Dane Coles sits at the back of a maul rolling towards the line. When it gets to a metre out Coles hands off to Smith who shapes to pass right but throws a short ball over his left shoulder to Ioane who crashes over.
Updated
20 min: Wallabies pinged for offside when, a metre out, Smith passes from the back of a maul into the backside of Hannigan. A great interception by Hannigan’s can. Had it not intervened Ioane may have been in in the corner.
18 min: Six handling errors by the All Blacks. Now seven. From the turn-over Foley kicks deep and McKenzie, I think it was, returns the favour. Now the Wallabies turn it over, Beale not rolling away from the ball.
TRY! All Blacks 0-17 Wallabies (Foley 17)
It came off Genia’s knee, not his hand, so no knock-on. Another try to Australia!! Bloody hell. Who saw this coming? It’s as if the All Blacks just thought they had to turn up to win. Foley misses the relatively easy conversion. That could be costly.
17 min: The ABs push the Aussies off the ball but it pops out to Genia who scoots around the flank of the scrum and races downfield. As the defence hauls him in he passes outside to Hooper. He then offloads to Foley who races 20m to score! Or did he? Genia might have knocked on at the back of the scrum. We’ve gone to the video ref...
14 min: After a dangerous attack from the Aussies Folau drops the ball in traffic and the ABs recycle, spinning it left. Ioane gets through the defensive line but before he can scoot clear Haylett-Petty rides him like a backpack full of text books. Ioane can’t carry such weight and falls. From the ruck the ABs knock on.
CONVERSION! All Blacks 0-12 Wallabies (Foley 12)
After missing his first shot Foley converts this, easier, one from 10m to the left of the posts.
Updated
TRY! All Blacks 0-10 Wallabies (Hooper 12)
The scrum disintegrates and through a mess of bodies Hooper emerges and strolls over! What a start for the embattled Aussies!
10 min: Line-out win to Australia 25m out and Foley bombs to Folau’s wing where he looks to out-leap his opposite number. The ball comes off McKenzie and bounces into touch, 5m out from the ABs line.
7 min: The All Blacks attack Australia’s right edge, Ioane prominent. On their 1oth phase of attack they knock it on and Beale roosts the ball to the touchline. After the Blacks win the lineout Sonny Bill Williams, running onto a flat ball passed a little behind him, spills it.
5 min: The ABs win a scrum against the feed 10m out from the Aussie line and they go left sharpish. Ioane gets the ball on the wing a few metres out but his attempt at an inside ball is knocked into touch.
3 min: The Wallabies turn over the restart. They’ll need to get their kick-off receiving into shape quick smart. They can’t rely on intercept tries all night.
On the Folau try, McKenzie had his eyes on an overlap on the right. Had Folau not snaffled that ball it may have been a runaway try to NZ.
TRY! All Blacks 0-5 Wallabies (Folau 1m)
... and McKenzie, chiming into the backline, throws an intercept pass to Folau who races 55m to score five metres inside the left touchline.
Updated
Peeeeeep!
The Aussies turn it over from the kickoff but as the Blacks spin it wide to the right ...
Really does look like a wonderful stadium. I suppose any stadium where, as a spectator, you’re protected from the elements is a good one. How would it stand up to hail, I wonder? Or the haka? We’re about to find out...
A rousing haka with the ABs in arrow head formation and the Aussies facing them and, if they were me, wishing they were instead, in a quiet bar with a good book. No glass fall, however. And so, with the stadium intact, we’re about to get underway...
A respectful minute’s silence is held for Colin Meads.
Now the anthems. So it’s an early lead to NZ: 1-0.
“It’s been another week of soul searching,” says the commentary team as the teams begin to make their way onto the pitch. Some might say the Wallabies have been searching for their soul since 2004. It’s good at hiding. A chameleon if you like.
Kieran Reed leads the ABs out and the crowd give him and his team a rousing reception. Say what you like about Kiwis but they don’t get sick of beating Aussies.
Phil Withall writes in to offer a commentary on the commentary: “Rather enjoy the commentary team struggling to come up with a contingency plan for the delay as they discuss the contingency plans that the players would have put in place,” he says. “Good thing they don’t do the cricket...”
Watching the Bledisloe on enemy territory. This sad square of gold is all that remains of the Wallabies fans. BYO paper bag with eyeholes. pic.twitter.com/9MTsuPKfvL
— Richard Cooke (@rgcooke) August 26, 2017
News to hand... due to lighting issues, the kickoff will be delayed. Now scheduled for 745pm local, 5.45pm AEST.
The late great All Black Colin Meads will be remembered tonight, with the home team wearing the number 5 on their sleeves:
I slapped Dunedin with a wet lettuce leaf moments earlier when I compared it to Mordor. In alluding to Mordor I was, admittedly, thinking of Carisbrook, the ‘retired’ venue known as the House of Pain. These days it’s the Forsyth Barr Stadium that hosts the big games and it looks a picture, like a giant conservatory or greenhouse.
GAME DAY! Where in the world will you be watching 🇳🇿 v 🇦🇺? #NZLvAUS #BledisloeCup 🏉🏆 pic.twitter.com/qGe3DvhzbZ
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) August 25, 2017
Teams:
TEAM NAMING | The #AllBlacks have made three changes to their side for the second #BledisloeCup Test.
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) August 23, 2017
MORE: https://t.co/qjA7lApg3j pic.twitter.com/R8DfAk4vUv
#BREAKING l Adam Coleman is out due to injury, Arnold is in and debutante Izack Rodda is on the bench. #BledisloeCup #NZLvAUS pic.twitter.com/iclNBMTCvs
— Qantas Wallabies (@qantaswallabies) August 25, 2017
As that graphic shows, the big team news for Australia was the loss of Adam Coleman. It means Rory Arnold comes in to the starting side and Izack Rodda comes onto the bench.
For New Zealand, three changes to the team that cracked the Aussies on the rump with a rolled up wet towel last week. Hooker Dane Coles returns to the front row for what will be his 50th Test, with Codie Taylor shifting to the bench. Bench prop Kane Hames replaces Wyatt Crockett, while Scott Barrett is the reserve lock, in for the injured Luke Romano.
If I’ve been overly negative in that preamble then feast your eyes on this: a scene from today’s Shute Shield final in Sydney between Northern Suburbs and Warringah Rats. Compared to Mordor (Dunedin) it looks positively bucolic (like Hobbiton). Just the kind of atmosphere to mold and shape a fearless, hard-nosed, desperate, down & dirty rugb … oh, wait … :
#scenes @shuteshield pic.twitter.com/ZChfszCC6A
— LadiesWhoLeague (@LadiesWhoLeague) August 26, 2017
Preamble
“Tell ‘em they’re dreaming”: That was the headline of the Otago Daily Times on the day the Wallabies arrived in Dunedin for tonight’s Bledisloe Cup clash with the All Blacks. I take issue with it. Not for its provocative nature —that’s par for the course with the NZ press when it comes to the All Blacks, as Warren Gatland would tell you— but with the idea that anyone within the Wallabies camp actually thinks that they can beat the All Blacks tonight. Who is this mysterious “them” the Otago Daily Times is referring to?
If I’m wrong, if there is actual belief in the Wallabies camp, then their team psychologist needs a raise because there’s almost zero evidence to consider an upset in on the cards tonight. Last week, for instance, the Wallabies were pumped 54-34 in Sydney in the first game of the series. In the manner of stricken sailors grasping at driftwood some have suggested that those 34 points are cause for optimism but, really, the vast majority of those 34 points came after the red hot All Blacks had left the field for an early shower.
If last weekend’s game (which reflected the moribund state of Australian rugby at the moment) wasn’t enough proof on its own that the Wallabies are rank outsiders tonight consider that it was the sixth consecutive time the All Blacks had beaten the Wallabies, and the sixth consecutive time they’d done so by scoring 40 or more points. Forget the diabolical form of Australia’s Super Rugby teams when it comes to playing on New Zealand soil, the Wallabies haven’t had a win across the ditch since 2001.
But perhaps that’s where this so-called “dreaming” has taken root. That 2001 Wallabies win at Carisbrook in Dunedin broke a 96-year drought at the venue and, thus, proved that pain need not last forever. Could a period of abject misery similarly end for the Wallabies tonight? Or will the All Blacks sink the slipper a little deeper?
One thing’s for sure. Barnaby Joyce can’t lose either way.
(paul.connolly.casual@theguardian.co.uk or @PFConnolly)
Kick-off: 7.35pm LOCAL (5.35pm AEST)
Paul will be with us shortly. In the meantime, such is the state of Australian rugby union at the moment, you can only laugh. Can’t you? Here’s David Squires to help, if necessary:
