The All Blacks have secured the Bledisloe Cup for the 20th year by beating the Wallabies 39-37 in Melbourne on Thursday night – an incredible victory which they almost blew but stole at the very death via Jordie Barrett’s try and a highly controversial decision by referee Mathieu Raynal.
The French official will find himself in the headlines big time over the Tasman because, with about a minute remaining and the Wallabies holding a 37-34 lead, Raynal decided first-five Bernard Foley was taking too long to kick a penalty in front of his posts into touch and awarded the All Blacks an attacking scrum.
The Wallabies were outraged by the decision but Raynal stood firm, and so, incredibly, did the visitors.
From the scrum, Akira Ioane had a dig, and, under penalty advantage, Will Jordan went close before offloading to Barrett for the match winner.
The finale left the crowd stunned because the Wallabies, who had three players in the sinbin throughout the match, had fought back from a 31-13 deficit in the second half to take the lead for the first time with two minutes remaining.
One of those yellow cards was for replacement lock Darcy Swain in an incident which may have been the major talking point if not for the very late drama. Swain intentionally targeted Quinn Tupaea’s left leg in a ruck in an ugly incident which forced the midfielder off injured and may have been a red card and could still be if he has to front a judiciary.
But, with Foley pulling the strings superbly in his first test since 2019 the Wallabies, remarkably, were never out of it despite the All Blacks appearing set to smash them with three converted tries in the third quarter.
Hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho scored two in total and was a standout yet again, and yet, while the All Blacks were extremely dominant at times, they couldn’t pull away. And that was down to the Wallabies’ stubbornness and their own unforced errors.
The upshot is that the All Blacks won with five tries to four, have kept the Bledisloe Cup ahead of next Saturday’s return match at Eden Park, and are a very good shout to win the Rugby Championship.
Their inconsistencies remain, however, and more questions will be asked of Foster's team, who somehow put back-to-back wins together for the first time this year.
They began with an intensity that hasn’t been seen before from this side this year and put the Wallabies under huge pressure.
The home side made a hash of the kick-off, the All Blacks won two back-to-back penalties, prop Ethan de Groot was held up over the line and Taukei’aho was over shortly after following a driving maul. Mo’unga kicked the sideline conversion for good measure and the All Blacks were 7-0 up after five minutes.
It got worse for the Australians. Skipper James Slipper was destroyed by Tyrel Lomax in the game’s first scrum and the Wallabies were on their way to giving up five penalties in the opening 13 minutes.
All of which made their comeback more impressive, although they were assisted by David Havili’s departure with a head injury in a “friendly fire” incident with Sam Cane which also saw the skipper fail a head injury assessment.
Foley closed the gap with a penalty. Andrew Kellaway, who would score two tries, should have scored an earlier one but for a desperate tackle by Ioane and Mo’unga, but Rob Valetini was soon over after a driving maul anyway, a movement which saw Cane’s replacement Dalton Papalii sinbinned for collapsing it.
The visitors were under more pressure as the Wallabies sought to press home their advantage in stringing together 15 phases before Tupaea won a near miracle turnover in front of his posts.
And then, more drama.
After a Caleb Clarke breakaway was eventually halted with the home side in disarray, Wallabies wing Tom Wright was adjudged to have cynically slowed the ball in the ruck and was yellow carded.
Worse for the Wallabies was to come when Swain’s act of targeting Tupaea’s left leg ruck was spotted by the officials and he also saw yellow when he could easily have seen red instead.
With four minutes remaining in the half and the All Blacks enjoying a numerical advantage, Taukei’aho lost the ball over the line in Gordon’s tackle, and Beauden Barrett dropped a poor Rieko Ioane pass with men to spare outside him.
The All Blacks botched other opportunities – Hoskins Sotutu kicking instead of passing to the unmarked Brodie Retallick was an obvious one, but with Jake Gordon sinbinned for collapsing a maul and Mo’unga over for a try, the All Blacks appeared untroubled.
Back the Wallabies came via Valetini, Kellaway and Pete Samu, however, with Foley's conversion from wide out drawing his side level and Nic White's penalty from 49m allowing them to take the lead for the first time with two minutes remaining.
The Wallabies appeared on track. But then came Raynal’s big call and Jordie Barrett’s sensational try as the All Blacks stole it in an instant Bledisloe classic.
All Blacks 39 (Samisoni Takei’aho 2, Richie Mo’unga, Will Jordan, Jordie Barrett tries; Mo’unga 4 cons, 2 pens)
Wallabies 37 (Andrew Kellaway 2, Rob Valetini, Pete Samu tries; Bernard Foley 2 pens, 3 cons, Nic White pen)
Halftime: 10-10
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