Summary
So, an immensely disappointing result for those in gold hoping for the miraculous - a trip to Eden Park that doesn’t end empty-handed.
They weren’t awful, the Wallabies - this was all about just how good the All Blacks were. There was about ten minutes early on when the visitors were shading it, but Dane Coles’ impressive scampering try broke the resistance. From there it was All Black (boom-boom) - superior in the handling; at the breakdown; in the line out.
It’s what you would have expected from this collection of great champions - McCaw, Carter, Nonu, Conrad Smith - they were all near their best. Hopefully that will put paid to any of that ‘Carter’s too old’ gaff that was kicking around pre-game.
Much to ponder for Michael Cheika - he threw some selection curve balls, and on the balance of play it’s fair to say they didn’t come off. That said, the Wallabies coach would surely have learned a few things about those he’s still running the rule over for World Cup selection.
The Australian media scribes will circle the ten minutes where Cooper was in the bin as the tipping factor for this game blowing wide open, but to blame Quade is to paper over the cracks of other shortcomings. If the Wallabies needed a template for what it takes to win a World Cup again, they’ve been given it by those in black tonight.
Chapeau, All Blacks - a fierce and complete showing of wonderful rugby.
To relive any of this game, see below, or here’s Ian Malin’s match report.
Bring on the World Cup!
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Full time New Zealand 41 - 13 Australia
And that’s that. A powerful, impassioned, and at times brutal display from the All Blacks.
It’s almost like that false carrot of potential hope makes this even more cruel, as the inevitable NZ-juggernaut grinds back to full tempo.
Forget last week’s Rugby Championship, this was a victory that had World Cup written all over it.
Conrad Smith is sporting a shiner, Richie McCaw is bleeding from the face-region, but it’s all-smiles all-round.
79 min: A penalty for New Zealand, but not for a second were they going to take the easy points. They want more, and they’re lining up about 15m out.
An All Black knock on, and Australia survive this raiding sortie. No hurry to pack this scrum as the fulltime hooter sounds.
The Wallabies throw it around in a gallows humour attempt at scoring; but the ball falls harmlessly over the sideline.
New Zealand 41 - 13 Australia (Folau try + conversion)
76 min: Well, a pocket of joy for one of Australia’s better performers tonight. A crossfield kick is snaffled from the air - Folau showing the best of his AFL skills to rise uncontested, cut out his opposite number and run the distance.
A touch of respectability to an otherwise shabby scoreline if you’re a Wallabies fan.
Great soundbite from the Welsh referee - “If you’re going to cheat, cheat fairly.”
Well, I’m scratching my head over that one; but I don’t think too many players will be mulling that over tonight in bed. They’ll be celebrating/commiserating a THIRTEENTH straight All Blacks Bledisloe win. What a period of dominance.
72 min: A fifth breakdown turnover for the All Blacks, they’ve really dominated tonight on the floor. Now some tired legs as the scrum collapses.
If people thought the All Blacks in Sydney were a shadow of themselves, well this has been a full-fleshed performance from the World Champions. And awesome, brutal powerful performance so far.
70 min: No real hurry for this restart. Douglas rises high to claim the line out. Giteau looks to spread it, but appears to cop a high-ish tackle here. Yep, referee confirms - penalty Australia. They go to touch again.
A rare clean grab in the lineout - Toomua looks for Beale one-v-one, but the All Black backline deals with it.
69 min: The Wallabies about 20m out and as it goes through the hands it’s dropped cold. That’s about the first time I’ve seen the visitors with the pill and they’ve absolutely bombed it. You wouldn’t want to hazard a guess at where morale is at for some of those in gold out there.
They’ve been gifted a penalty though, and White finds touch for a lineout about 7m out.
New Zealand 41 - 6 (Carter conversion)
No mistake from Carter - gosh, it’s about at this stage you start just circling tomorrow’s Netball World Cup final in your diary. Australia stand a much better chance there, because they are getting absolutely murdered here tonight.
Richie McCaw leaves the field, having passed Brian O’Driscoll’s caps record, and receives an absolutely thunderous ovation. Standing is a word that undersells this. They are screaming and stomping down the rafters for their talismanic hero.
Updated
New Zealand 39 - 6 Australia (Nonu try)
64 min: The scrum resets about 15m out. Through the hands once again, and..
White no match for the towering centre - and Nonu crosses. Nonu with a double in presumably his last hitout on home soil. The All Black No.12 too strong for the diminutive halfback - an inside ball from Carter and an instant mismatch.
63 min: NZ scrum about 5m out. It’s a flowing backline move by Beale lines up his opposite number with a cracking tackle. And such is the Wallabies luck, it’s been adjudged a knock on, as as the ball is dropped it comes off the Australian’s hand.
Cannot. Win. A. Trick.
61 min: All Blacks about 20m out, some sustained pressure.
White tries to clear his lines with a lofted pass about 30m across his own backline. It’s gone a mile forward and the Wallabies are really up against it.
Horwill trudges off looking dejected. He worked hard tonight, but issues in the lineout will certainly be a concern for the coaching team.
59 min: If you’re a true believer inside Eden Park you’ve been treated to something special here tonight. The All Blacks have been solid across the park.
And to add insult to injury, the Wallabies have been given the glimmer of a respite - only for Horwill to put down a lineout feed from about 7m out!
Can’t win a trick, the visitors. The All Blacks spread it, and look automatically like they’re cross again!
Toomua penalised for an ‘early tackle’ - lucky to avoid the yellow card, I think the referee’s just taking pity here.
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56 min: Such has been the frequency of these All Black incursions, I’m struggling just to give you the minute updates. Three tries with Cooper in the bin - I think you guess what the armchair critics are going to make of Cheika’s gamble now.
I’m calling a masterstroke. This one’s a ‘strategic’ thumping - just imagine how cocky these boys in black will be come World Cup time?
Well played, Cheika. Cooper the trojan horse. He’s played the long-game on this one, I reckon.
New Zealand 34 - 6 (C.Smith try + Carter conversion)
Oh dear, oh dear. A hot Nonu through tepid butter. The most-capped centre combination in world football answers their critics - Nonu and Conrad Smith both cross in quick succession.
Carter with the extras, and within six minutes the Wallabies have been well and truly skinned.
New Zealand 27 - 6 Australia (Carter conversion)
Well, start composing your poisoned epistles now - I really can’t see a way back for the Wallabies from here. Quick hands from the All Black forwards plus an inopportune slip at the back was enough for Nonu to stroll over.
This is getting really ugly.
New Zealand 25 - 6 Australia (Nonu try)
Wallabies try to find touch and a punished for a disappointing kick. Milner-Skudder keeps the ball alive, his kick downfield is left by Carter, and the All Blacks spread it wide to find Nonu in acres of room.
Exasperation in the coaches box. There are some water bottles flying everywhere in the visitors cubicle.
New Zealand 20 - 6 Australia (Carter conversion)
No mistake from right in front. This could get messy for the visitors; down a man and momentum once again back with the All Blacks.
A really big ten minutes for the Wallabies - if this goes wrong they can kiss any chance of ‘lucky 13’ in their quest to halt this All Black juggernaut.
New Zealand 18 - 6 Australia (penalty try)
A brilliant run from Milner-Skudder is brought to a screeching halt by a high tackle from Cooper, and the referee has no hesitation in awarding the penalty try and giving Quade his marching orders - yellow, and that’s ten in the bin!
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46 min: White’s boxkick is charged down, but fine work from the kicker to regain posession. Cooper gets some distance, before he in turn is tested by another NZ highball. The Auckland-born Queenslander stands firm, but here are the All Blacks on the move once more..
44 min: Conrad Smith and Carter with some neat passing, tries to release Coles once again. Aaron Smith with a great step to evade the defensive line. Savea drops the pill though, and the chance is lost, to the disappointment of these very vocal spectators.
43 min: A 22m scrum for the Wallabies, a great kick from Smith, but it just finds the wrong side of the in-goal. Relief for a scrambling Nic White, who anxiously watched that run dead.
A lull in play as Moore receives some treatment. A ‘knock round the eye’ is the generous assessment. Count their fingers, whistleman - I reckon someone left one in the Wallabies front rower.
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Second Half
41 min: Australia with the kickoff, before the All Blacks return the favour, and Quade Cooper slips badly. A roar from the crowd - don’t they just love to ride this kid? No knock on but an embarrassing moment for tonight’s bete noir..
So New Zealand 13 - 6 Australia at Half Time thanks to that Dane Coles try and some decent bootwork from Carter.
Some community service announcements in the interim:
@rrjparkin If anyone in @Gatwick_Airport north terminal is streaming #NZLvAUS I'll buy them a coffee if I can watch!
— Jæmēš ßrädłėŷ (@jimibradley) August 15, 2015
I don’t know what a coffee goes for over at Gatwick these days but this sounds a fair deal.
Meanwhile, Matthew Wake writes in to join the coverage from all places, Switzerland. I don’t know much about their top tier side - does Sepp Blatter play for them? He’s always best surrounded by a few props..
And before you can suck the jam from your donut, the players are back on the field, in expectation of the second half.
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40 min: The hooter howls as the All Blacks scrap about 20m out. A few repeat possessions before Carter tries his hand at a drop goal...
And it just drifts wide! Nice invention, but no reward for the All Blacks.
So a converted try the difference at half-time. Going off how ragged passages of that looked for the Wallabies, they’d probably take that, no?
Your thoughts on that first half? Where’s it gone wrong? Or conversely, where has it gone oh so right? Let me know, I’m off for a quite cuppa before the second half gets underway.
Updated
38 min: Henry Speight heads down the tunnel for a concussion test; as another Wallaby gets a good head-wrapping in back play. It’s not quite ‘walking wounded’ stage yet, but they have borne the brunt of the defensive work in this first half.
All Blacks again with a scrum feed; this forward pack sure looks like it could need some Pococking. A Pocock injection. Some fresh Pocock.
35 min: A nice passage of probing from the All Blacks. Some triple-Smith combinations testing the Wallabies right-side defence. It’s knocked out in-goal and a restart ensues.
Here’s Nonu with space out wide - Australia scratching for numbers as three/four men in black look to exploit the gaps. The Wallabies only just hanging on; they’ve got a line out feed here, to the relief of the very few in gold in the seats around Eden Park.
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32 min: Ahh, no, no, no. A silly cheap penalty, and suddenly it’s Carter looking to stretch his hamstrings again. Australia can’t afford ill-discipline at this stage of the game - Carter reckons he can strike this one from 49m out...
Nope. Sorry boss. A few metres short and the Wallabies grateful for the restart. Gosh this Toomua can hoof it - great distance once more.
New Zealand 13 - 6 (Cooper penalty)
Great hoof from Quade - he’s got the distance, and he’s got the accuracy.
I wonder if that’s another factor in his re-inclusion tonight - Foley not exactly wowing many with his accuracy throughout the Rugby Championship. Perhaps. Who can see inside the labyrinthine mystery that is the rainman mind of Michael Cheika.
30 min: An innocuous penalty against Conrad Smith. Didn’t appear to be intentional, but it’s given the Wallabies a potential lifeline. Cooper a long way out though.. Here come the boos.
New Zealand 13 - 3 Australia (Carter penalty)
No mistake from Super-Dan. It’s perhaps harsh on the visitors this scoreline; the Wallabies did start very brightly in the first ten, but since then it’s very much been one-way traffic. Need to regroup. Come on Quade. Find a rabbit.
29 min: A bit of biff! Raised on Origin no-punches rules, I don’t know about you but that certainly got the endorphins flowing. One of the All Blacks water carriers has somehow found himself in the thick of it! I won’t lie, I’m not really sure how that all started. A ball thrown onto the face of Moore perhaps has started the fracas, Nonu I believe was the instigator.
It’s another penalty to the All Blacks though, as Carter looks to stretch the lead to ten.
27 min: White into touch, he only finds about 35m.
It’s a bit rocky early on for Aust fans, but I didn’t think it was this bad!
@della79 @rrjparkin @GdnAusSport Reckon I might turn it off in a tick!
— Brad Cullen (@RedDirt28) August 15, 2015
Keep the faith, young ones - Cheika’s ‘finishers’ are still to come. Hang in there!
25 min: A really crucial patch for the visitors. The All Blacks tails are certainly wagging here and with the Eden Park roarers at their backs, they could blow Australia away here.
NZ with it about 15m out. Again they go to the skies, but this time Cooper spills it. All Black ball, Nonu probes out wide, but he’s stopped by Hooper.
Wallabies scrum, loose hands and the Kiwi forwards muff the opportunity.
A much needed breather for the men in gold.
New Zealand 10 - 3 Australia (Carter conversion)
No problems there for Carter from a relatively simple angle, he adds the extra and suddenly the Kiwis have a bit of momentum here.
Updated
New Zealand 8 - 3 Australia (Coles try)
It’s the big front rower in a footrace, and he’s over!
Remarkable work from Dane Coles to beats the scrambling defence - White no chance to stop the hooker, who burst free following Dan Carter’s good earlier work.
Updated
19 min: Some great work by Folau out wide again, and Australia are on the attack. Some determined NZ defence, especially from Nonu, and the crowd wills their chargers on to resist.
Half a break from Savea - some resolute work from the All Blacks, and now it’s Carter with half a window.. Look out, look out..
New Zealand 3 - 3 Australia (Carter penalty)
It’s a long way out, but Carter’s juuuust got it to sneak over. My on-board statistician tells me that’s 700pts on NZ soil for the All Black veteran. Approximately 700 more than I (or perhaps you too) have scored, so take that, haters.
16 min: Some sloppy work at the clean out and it’s Carter’s chance to level the ledger as the Wallabies are penalised.
14 min: All Blacks win a line out about 30m out after Moore is penalised; McCaw attempts the pick-and-go but Wallabies resist. Speight coming off the wing with some good defensive work.
Carter targets Folau with another probing high ball, but the former-AFL/League star deals comfortably to mark.
Alaistair Murphy is a fashion purist - he’s written in from the Shaky Isles with some love for the All Blacks’, well, all-black footwear. They certainly do look the part.
11 min: With all the talk normally about the flaky Wallabies scrum, it’s the line out that’s looking really shoddy early on. Another fluffed effort and subsequent knock-on and the All Blacks get a scrum feed. Now a chance to see the big men lock horns.
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9 min: Ashley-Cooper with a double fumble without a single black shirt within cooee. Thankfully both backwards, but that wasn’t pretty at the back.
Carter with an almost impeccably placed kick, Toomua gets impressive distance on the restart and then Folau rises well to contest a returned punt. McCaw penalised for diving in; a scrappy start from the Kiwis this.
New Zealand 0 - 3 Australia (Cooper penalty)
That will settle the nerves! Cooper gets the razz from the crowd, but no signs of an impending collapse as he strikes that nicely betwixt post.
6 min: Some nervy moments from both sides, and neither sustain any consistent pressure. Australia looking to get some passages together as Folau again scampers down the left flank towards the 20m line.
Nic White does well to get to the breakdown, and it’s a chance for first points for the Wallabies. Penalty.
4 min: Smith with a box kick, Wallabies fail to deal with the loose ball. Aaron Smith looks to the boot again, but a thumping return from Folau puts it deep into All Black territory. Loose hands from NZ and first look at Izzy with ball-in-hand about 30m out.
A pass goes loose and the crowd roar. NZ back with it.
2 min: White finds touch, the Wallabies with a line out about 25m out - but a bad turnover; Moore fails to find Horwill and a poor turnover. All Blacks go straight to touch; let’s see if their line out fares better.
Kick off!
1 min: Peeeep! And we’re off! Straight from the kick off we have a heavy fall for Retallick, after all that expectation we have an early pause. He went up to regather the short kick and landed horribly. Wallabies with the scrum for an NZ knock on.
I’m calling first blood to Australia here - the young lass has gone out there and nailed the Australian anthem. Captain diamond-stud ears on the other hand - a bit too liberal with Anthem NZ for mine. There’s a time for improvisation - that probably wasn’t it. Just play it straight. Like Quade Cooper. Oh god that’s got me nervous already. Don’t ruin this Quade.
And, it’s Haka o’clock.
Faaaaarrrrr out. No matter how many times you watch one of those it really does send shivers down your spine. Not to out myself as that guy who’s the fastest forward in the team, but always gets there slowest to the breakdown, but just one sight of a haka and I reckon I’d be wishing my shorts were in gold too.. Intimidating stuff.
And...
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As always feel free to join the conversations - witicisms, rants, dad jokes - are all welcome. If you don’t, I will (attempt to do so). Shoot me a tweet @rrjparkin, or fire off an email to richard.parkin.casual@theguardian.com.
For those wondering, the ‘casual’ bit in the email has nothing to do with my employment status, and everything to do with my lax approach to grammar and spelling. Trying to type like Cerberus himself is pursuing me will inevitably give rise to some good comedy tonight - that’s the beauty of liveblogs, ladies and gents.
Let me know where you’re following the game from tonight - anyone from far-flung corners of the earth, denied a TV, but have rubbed two sticks together and summonsed internet access?
Or, shout out if you have a personal connection to this Bledisloe. It’s a fixture that’s always had a special place in my heart – I was in the marching band that played the national anthems at the SFS one year; I think Australia even won that one. All I remember was we got free tickets for our efforts, only for Matt Burke to go and score in the opening seconds before we could even find our seats. Everyone was furiously stuffing instruments into cases as a mighty roar echoed round the concrete underparts of the stadium. I’ll never forgive him.
Okay, enough from me - the players are emerging onto the field, led by the rugged-as-ever Richie McCaw, and it’s time for the anthems.
Updated
Okay - here are the respective team line ups:
Wallabies:
Folau, Speight, Ashley-Cooper, Toomua, Kuridrani, Cooper, White; Hooper, Palu, Fardy, Horwill, Skelton, Kepu, Moore, Sio
All Blacks:
Smith B., Milner-Skudder, Savea, Nonu, Smith C., Carter, Smith A.; McCaw, Read, Vito, Whitelock, Retallick, Franks, Coles, Woodcock
An hour until kick off of #BledisloeCup 2 - reminder of the teams & some stats #NZLvAUS pic.twitter.com/dQI63htXuj
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) August 15, 2015
For New Zealand’s part, these cats just couldn’t get any cooler.
If you need a job done - look no further than Dan Carter and Richie McCaw. At least that’s the theory over at Air New Zealand, who enlisted the All Black stars to help promote their latest on board safety video. Beats Mark Waugh pushing nasal spray I guess.
It baffles me that anyone’s even talking about Dan Carter’s World Cup position being under threat - have they not seen this video?
It’s an interesting subplot - with all eyes on Cooper, don’t forget these veteran warhorses in Black have points of their own to prove tonight.
Preamble
Hi all! Hope you’re all prepped, gripped, ripped and ready for this - I don’t know about you but from an Australian perspective it really is a bit exciting to be going into an All Blacks clash at Eden Park without a complete sense of horror, dread, and fear of the inevitable.
It’s 12 Bledisloe wins in a row for the All Blacks, and if that doesn’t scare you - the last time Australia won at Eden Park, this was top of the charts.
Michael Cheika appears to have won the pre-game mindgames with some crazy-brave bold selection choices. The return of Quade Cooper is just one decision that’s been well-mined by the international football media; it’s prompted, well, if not quite JFK-style conspiracy theory level speculation, than at least certainly some raised eyebrows.
I’m convincingly coming round to Guardian pundit Rajiv Maharaj’s theory:
All Black eyes will be awaiting a Cooper moment of magic/madness. But what, if by design, it never comes and all he does is shuffle the ball along, make competent kicks out of hand and at re-starts - and no more than that? What if Cheika’s trick, his great reveal as it were, isn’t on the field, but on the bench when Pocock comes on and works with Hooper in the backend of the game? This is the beauty of Cheika’s selection – it unsettles our thinking.
Is it a classic case of the magician’s misdirection? You have to hand it to Cheika, it take plums to make six changes from a winning side; but who are we mere mortals to second-guess the master? If he pulls it off, he’s a genius - if not, well, at least he’s not Ewen McKenzie.
Richard will be here shortly. In the meantime, this long read on Steve Merrick, the Wallaby who turned down a fortune to turn pro and instead remain an amateur player in his home town of Singleton, is a simply fantastic read by Patrick Skene.
And here’s a video preview of today’s big game:
