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Australia kicked the door to the World Cup wide open as they proved the All Blacks to be short of invincible with a stunning 27-19 victory over the World Champions. The win also handed the Rugby Championship title to the Wallabies for the first time since 2011.
New Zealand were on the front foot from the get-go, and despite two turnovers from David Pocock in the opening five minutes, the All Blacks quickly found themselves knocking on the door. A quick tap by Aaron Smith put Sekope Kepu in a bad spot, and the big prop decided to infringe rather than concede a try. Wayne Barnes duly sent him to the bin, and Dan Carter took the points.
No further points would come from the extra man, and a scrum deep in New Zealand territory resulted in a penalty shot for Matt Giteau after Jerome Kaino was adjudged to have walked around illegally. Giteau was on target, but the points were erased just moments later as indiscipline from Stephen Moore at the breakdown handed Carter a chance of his own, and the ball sailed over to restore the three point gap.
Giteau saw an opportunity to level the scores ring off the uprights, but the All Blacks couldn’t clear and Israel Folau ripped through the line only to be tripped up just short. Nick Phipps’ pass from the rock went to nobody and and the chance was gone.
Nothing further would come from the half, and shortly after the break the All Blacks were in trouble. Aaron Smith chopped down Adam Ashley-Cooper with a head-high challenge and was quickly dispatched for a ten minute sit-down. The Wallabies put the heat on from a subsequent maul, and Kepu made up for his earlier transgression with a barreling run through the New Zealand defense to score a seven-pointer under the sticks.
Another howler from Phipps put the Wallabies under immense pressure on their own line. The try wouldn’t come but an offside penalty gave Carter a chance to kill some time and put points on the board, and the flyhalf made no mistake, ticking over 1500 points on his career and bringing New Zealand back to within a single point.
Conrad Smith took a quick tap after a New Zealand turnover and Phipps became the second scrumhalf in the game to see yellow for making the tackle without retreating. It didn’t take long and Ben Smith somehow wriggled away from the defense to put Nehe Milner-Skudder into the clear for a try on debut.
Australia pulled up their socks and with Giteau orchestrating from scrumhalf, they worked through multiple phases before Matt To’omua put in an inch-perfect grubber for Ashley-Cooper to run on to, and the winger fought through the tackle of Ben Smith to score a cracking try. Giteau’s conversion was spot on, and the Wallabies had a three point lead heading into the final quarter.
The All Blacks wasted no time erasing their lead. From an centre attacking scrum they went right, and quick hands from Beauden Barrett put Milner-Skudder in space again. Despite the attention of three tacklers, the winger wrestled the ball to the line for his second try, much to the delight of his teammates.
Just to keep the fans on their toes, New Zealand conceded a penalty near half-way, and replacement Nic White hammered it through the uprights to give Australia the lead once again. The little scrumhalf was the hero again as he broke from a ruck and ghosted through two tacklers to score the match winner, with his conversion stretching the gap to two scores and putting Australia out of reach.
AUSTRALIA 27
Tries – S. Kepu (43), A. Ashley-Cooper (60), N. White (72)
Cons – M. Giteau 2 (44, 61), N. White (73)
Pens – M. Giteau (26), N. White (68)
Yellow cards – S. Kepu (8), N. Phipps (54)
NEW ZEALAND 19
Tries – N. Milner-Skudder 2 (55, 64)
Pens – D. Carter 3 (9, 29, 50)
Yellow cards – A. Smith (42)
AUSTRALIA
1 S. Sio (J. Slipper 58) 2 S. Moore (capt.) (T. Polota-Nau 68) 3 S. Kepu (G. Holmes 55) 4 D. Mumm 5 J. Horwill (W. Skelton 58) 6 S. Fardy (B. McCalman 76) 7 M. Hooper (G. Holmes 15-18) 8 D. Pocock (B. McCalman 63-66) 9 N. Phipps (N. White 66) 10 B. Foley (M. To’omua 51) 11 D. Mitchell 12 M. Giteau (K. Beale 66) 13 T. Kuridrani 14 A. Ashley-Cooper 15 I. Folau
NEW ZEALAND
1 T. Woodcock (B. Franks 73) 2 D. Coles (C. Taylor 68) 3 O. Franks (N. Laulala 45) 4 L. Romano (S. Whitelock 54) 5 B. Retallick 6 J. Kaino (S. Cane 73) 7 R. McCaw (capt.) 8 K. Read 9 A. Smith (T. Perenara 77) 10 D. Carter 11 J. Savea 12. S. Williams (M. Fekitoa 54) 13 C. Smith 14 N. Milner-Skudder 15 B. Smith (B. Barrett 62)
