Rugby Championship Review - New Zealand 27 - 16 Australia

Tradition is a great aspect of most sports.  Whether it’s an ancient rivalry or an initiation that involves an unnerving mix of cross dressing and mud-wrestling, a bit of the old school ways in a professional world still always go down a treat.  And what a tradition the All Blacks and the Wallabies have – usually up there as the 2 best sides in the world, they have played out some frankly unbelievable games over the years.  The only problem is that recently, flying in the face of all tradition, the last few years have been just a tad one sided.

The problem is the All Blacks.  They don’t do sentiment or tradition when it comes to other sides – well, not intentionally anyway.  They are the most ruthlessly efficient and dominant side on the planet, and that stems from a desire to win at all costs, not maintain intriguing rivalries or other wet notions like that.  Of course, internally, it’s a different matter – with as proud a rugby heritage as the black ferns have, there is bound to be some sentiment in that famous All Black shirt, and rightly so.  And one of the great All Black traditions is to have a never ending supply of Test quality fly halves, and stepping into those rather large boots was Crusaders utility back Tom Taylor, following injuries to Aaron Cruden, Dan Carter and Beauden Barrett.   

If Taylor was hoping for a nice, relaxing start to life as a Test fly half, he would have been rather shocked at the frantic opening in store for him as he got the 2^nd Bledisloe Test underway.  Will Genia’s clearance kick was charged down, Taylor made a half break, was turned over by Michael Hooper and James O’Connor made a promising burst off down the left before James Slipper was bundled into touch.  All within the first 20 seconds of the game.  And the Wallabies soon had the upper hand in the madness, as the men in gold capitalised in a kick out on the full by Israel Dagg which allowed Hooper and Matt Toomua to make half breaks – something Toomua seemed allergic to last week – and force the All Blacks into conceding a penalty.  Stephen Moore may have had a claim at a try, but Jaco Payper wasn’t interested and the boot of Christian Lealiifano made the score 3-0 to the visitors.

The All Blacks nearly struck straight back as Ben Smith hit a great line off Taylor and scythed through the middle of the defence, giving Julian Savea a run for the corner, only to be denied by a strong tackle from Israel Folau.  Folau’s namesake, Dagg, then went close after skipping past Stephen Moore and Ben Mowen in a typically electric burst, before Taylor missed the ensuing penalty attempt. 

But the Wallabies were looking the more dangerous overall, without having the cutting edge of the hosts.  They were certainly winning the territory game – thanks mostly to Genia’s cultured boot and strong carries from the likes of Slipper and Moore – and they were rewarded with a penalty attempt after Folau’s pass was adjudged to be slapped down deliberately by Ben Smith, although they were unlucky not to be playing against 14 men after Ma’a Nonu shoulder charged Slipper in the head.  Question:  when did Nonu become the complete boneheaded buffoon he seems to be nowadays?  Anyway, Lealiifano missed the attempt (his first miss in Test rugby) but then burst clean through the All Blacks defence 2 minutes later following an offload from Moore, only to be hauled down 2 metres short by Aaron Smith.  It was a superb piece of cover by the scrum-half, who then cynically prevented a quick release of the ball and thus saved a try.  A guaranteed yellow card, surely?  Apparently not, and as the world began to moan about All Black double standards, Lealiifano knocked the yellow card-less penalty over to extend his team’s lead to 6 points.

The advantage, as is so often the case against the Kiwis, did not last for long.  After Kieran Read had reclaimed a Dagg high kick, slick hands from Savea, Dagg and Steven Luatua gave try-machine Ben Smith a 30 metre run-in for his side’s first score of the game.  Taylor converted with his first points in Test rugby and the hosts had the lead for the first time after nearly 30 minutes.  Taylor was looking increasingly assured in his pivotal role despite the fact that the lineout was badly malfunctioning, and soon added another 3 points as the All Blacks began to hammer away at the Wallaby line.

With the scores at 10-6 and halftime fast approaching, Taylor was off target with an ambitious 55-metre attempt on goal, but a bad fumble by Ben Mowen as the All Blacks kicked back the restart handed the impetus back to the hosts.  Steven Luatua smashed through a gap in the defence and spectacularly rounded Jesse Mogg before being hauled down by James O’Connor 3 metres out, but the All Blacks had quick ball and lightning hands from Conrad Smith and Dagg put Ben Smith in for his 2^nd of the night.  Taylor managed to hit both uprights from outwide, but the score was now somehow 15 – 6 after an entertaining first half that had felt very evenly contested.

The second half then started just as manically as the first – after an engaging first 3 minutes where Toomua and Conrad Smith broke through only to be pulled back for various infractions, Toomua claimed a turnover and O’Connor blaster 70 metres down the left, before just being hauled down by Taylor.  Once again, the All Blacks infringed within sniffing distance of their line but were somehow only punished by a penalty as opposed to a card.  This time the Wallabies went for the lineout but, yet again, came away with nothing as Kieran Read pinched the ball of Ben Alexander and, as usual, they were made to pay for their lack of precision as Taylor hammered over another penalty after a pile-driving scrum by his pack.

The visitors were still keeping hold of the ball in dangerous areas but were unable to crack the line like their opponents – although Folau went close – but were at least rewarded with a penalty when Conrad Smith strayed offside.  Despite Lealiifano’s kick though, the men in gold were still on the back foot in the set piece and another monster scrum led to another easy 3 for Taylor.

The game then descended into a fairly unimpressive game of “who can kick the worst?”, in which the Wallabies claimed a narrow victory, led heroically by the prodigiously talented, but ham-booted, Jesse Mogg, with Ma’a Nonu also doing his best to ruin an exciting game with an abysmal display of kicking.  Kiwi commentator Grant Nesbitt even said it was so bad that it reminded him of Twickenham (what, Nesbo, the place where your beloved All Blacks got hammered last year?!  Not that I took his comment personally...).  

The Wallabies were showing no interest in counter-attacking despite sitting 12 points down, but it was bizarre to keep playing territory when their lineout had collapsed under pressure from Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock.  The men in gold then got they deserved as Taylor took advantage of the All Blacks dominance and knocked over another 3 points, before Folau claimed a consolation score, intercepting an appalling pass from Nonu to step past Dagg and stride over the line.  It was a frustrating indication of the brilliance of the Aussie backline, but the side had just shown a blunt refusal to give the ball to them in space.  There was still time for Dagg to knock over a final 3 pointer, and with the final whistle went a 27-16 victory and the Bledisloe Cup.

Following the final whistle and the lifting of the trophy, there was still time for stalwart prop Tony Woodcock to be presented with his 100^th cap – and that’s about as close to sentimental as you can get with the All Blacks.  They mean business.