It was worth the wait in Wellington for the All Blacks tonight, as they lifted a couple of curses — including an inability to win in the city since 2018 — to blow away the Wallabies 33-13.
While not a complete performance, their showing was at least more even than last week in Sydney, the All Blacks breaking through their odd mental or physical block in this year’s Rugby Championship to at last score in the final quarter.
They did that through Caleb Clarke’s second try of the night and scored five in total, with replacement prop Tamaiti Williams also scoring in the second half, adding to the first-half efforts of Clarke, Sevu Reece and Will Jordan.
Just as impressive in that final 15 minutes was the home side’s scrambling defence.
They were a little over-eager at times, with Georgian referee Nika Amushukeli hammering the All Blacks in the penalty count and sending Clarke to the sinbin with four minutes remaining, when the wing was offside in stealing possession from a ruck.
Watch Scotty Stevenson and Pat McKendry analyse the All Blacks' win on TVNZ+
On the whole, head coach Scott Robertson will be very happy with the night’s work in his side’s final Test at home for the year, before a challenging northern tour.
The reshuffled backline took time to find their feet, but attacked with sharpness once they did, leaving no doubt the electric Jordan is a Test fullback.
Beauden Barrett was solid at No.10 and Damian McKenzie added real spark when he came on. In fact, he was a point of difference.
The real star of the show was flanker Wallace Sititi, who put in an astonishing amount of work, and defended and carried the ball with utter commitment and no shortage of skill. His performance was a coming-of-age effort and the 22-year-old appears to have a very big future.
The scoreline could have been a more convincing, but Tupou Vaa’i had a try rubbed out for an earlier knock on, as Amashukeli and his assistants kept, at times, an overwhelming grip on the game.
Veterans TJ Perenara and Sam Cane got the farewells they deserved. The halfback left the field to applause in the 62nd minute, with Cane following five minutes later to a brief standing ovation on the occasion of his 100th Test.
Neither had what they will consider their best Tests – perhaps the occasion got to them, as it did in general the team at the start.
Certainly, the Wallabies, so poor early last week in Sydney, started better than the home side. They dominated the early collisions, attacked with calmness and variety, and generally forced the All Blacks into a lot of tackles.
They also won the penalty count, with the home side coughing up six penalties to one in the opening 20 minutes, a series of mistakes that handed the momentum to the Australians. Fortunately for them, the Wallabies didn’t make the most of it.
In the opening seconds, halfback Jake Gordon only had to dive on a loose ball after a Beauden Barrett error to score, but for whatever reason, decided to pick it up first and dropped it.
Impressive flanker Fraser McReight made no mistake from close range, allowed to score a rather soft try by the All Blacks, but it sparked something.
They replied with a try for Sevu Reece, with the right wing running on to nicely weighted Anton Lienert-Brown pass to outstrip the defence, and while Noah Lolesio’s penalty extended the visitors’ advantage to 10-5, Jordan replied in emphatic fashion.
He ran through McReight for his 35th try in 37 Tests, allowing the All Blacks to take the lead after 22 minutes.
Lolesio nudged the Wallabies ahead again with five minutes remaining in the half, but the momentum was with the All Blacks and, after they turned down a shot at goal, Clarke sliced through. The six-point halftime lead was deserved and for a change, they kept up the momentum for the whole 80 minutes.
The near constant trickle of handling errors on a rare still and dry spring evening in Wellington eroded their performance, but it was far better and after the break, the visitors had no answer.
All Blacks 33 (Caleb Clarke 2, Sevu Reece, Will Jordan, Tamaiti Williams tries; Beauden Barrett 4 conversions) Wallabies 13 (Fraser McReight try; Noah Lolesio conversion, 2 penalties)
Halftime: 19-13
Watch Scotty Stevenson and Pat McKendry analyse the All Blacks' win on TVNZ+
SHARE ME