Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
PA

New Zealand likely to win Rugby Championship after win over Australia

New Zealand put one hand on the Rugby Championship trophy with a convincing 40-14 victory over Australia in their Bledisloe Cup clash in Auckland.

The result on Saturday morning meant South Africa must beat Argentina by more than 40 points later in the day to pip them.

The All Blacks now lead the table by five points with a points difference 39 better than that of the Springboks.

READ MORE: RTE pundits slam Bundee Aki for red card and subsequent protestations during Connacht's loss to Stormers

Australia had started the day with a chance of taking the title themselves but they were unable to repeat the performance of their narrow – and controversial – loss to the All Blacks last week.

Ill-discipline repeatedly undermined the Wallabies’ cause at a venue, Eden Park, where they had not won since 1986.

Jed Holloway was sin-binned for a bad tackle on Dalton Papalii with just two minutes on the clock and, although they held out with 14 men initially, they trailed 17-0 by the break.

Richie Mo’unga opened the scoring with a 20th-minute penalty and converted after Will Jordan followed with a fine try.

Australia then conceded a penalty try before half-time after an indiscretion during a rolling maul and Dave Porecki became their second player to be shown a yellow card.

New Zealand tightened their grip in the second half as Sam Whitelock went over from close range and Codie Taylor also crossed. Mo’unga converted one of them and added a penalty.

Australia finally got on the scoreboard through Folau Fainga’a but Samisoni Taukei’aho responded for the All Blacks and Mo’unga landed another penalty.

Jordan Petaia scored an Australia consolation in stoppage time.

READ NEXT:

Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.