All Blacks skipper Ardie Savea, blood visible on his white collar from a cut above his eye after another torrid Test, says his team’s goal beyond retaining the Bledisloe Cup and extending their record at Eden Park was to restore “mana” to the jersey.
Job largely done - despite another second-half scare.
The finer (and uglier) details of the All Blacks’ 33-24 victory over the Wallabies will be examined over the next few days by the coaches and players but the non-negotiable was a victory last night after the implosion against the Springboks in Wellington.
A defeat on top of a record loss would have been disastrous for this team and would have put the spotlight on head coach Scott Robertson, all his assistants, and the team dynamic as a whole.
All Blacks hold off gutsy Wallabies to maintain Eden Park record - Watch on TVNZ+
How the All Blacks let slip a 20-3 advantage after 25 minutes to lead only 26-24 with 10 minutes remaining should make up a large part of the team’s review, but, unlike at the Cake Tin, the home side had a response last night, with halfback Cam Roigard capping off a memorable return to all but seal the game with a converted try.
It means the big old trophy will stay in the cabinet for another year - the Wallabies last won it in 2002 - and the All Blacks keep their Rugby Championship dreams alive.
It was not close to perfect – and Savea, leading in the absence of the injured Scott Barrett – made that clear, too.
Pointedly, he said: "We have to be hard on ourselves after this. We can’t sit on our laurels. We’ll enjoy tonight and get back on the horse and keep each other accountable."
But, after losing Beauden Barrett (shoulder), Caleb Clarke (ankle), Ethan de Groot (head) and Tupou Vaa’i (knee) to injury, and withstanding a Wallabies' fightback which has been the visitors’ trademark this year, there will be satisfaction in the camp at least that a few wrongs have been righted.
“We wanted to put in a performance that brought back some mana to the jersey,” Savea said. “That started on Sunday when we came back in as a team.”
It continued with what appears to be an excellent week’s preparation, one that had the outstanding Roigard quickly up to speed for his first Rugby Championship Test of the year, along with left wing Caleb Clarke’s first Test of the year.
The set piece was far better, as was the All Blacks’ ability to counter the Wallabies’ high-ball game – both areas of serious concern after the collapse in Wellington – and danger-man Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i was largely kept under wraps by the All Blacks’ midfield.
Roigard, back from a foot problem and quickly back to his sniping best from the base of the ruck, transformed his team’s attack and his winning moment with five minutes remaining was richly deserved.
“Those are moments that you dream of,” he said afterwards. “Being out for a while… it’s obviously great to be back. To retain the Bled in front of our fans at Eden Park – it doesn’t get much better.
“Credit to Aussie, we knew they were battle hardened with [coach] Joe Schmidt, who has had a massive influence. They are a team that doesn’t fold under pressure. We knew it would take the whole 80 minutes.
“Credit to us too. In the past couple of weeks we have let moments slip in the second half. It was good to take control of it. We managed to get a few penalties and keep the scoreboard ticking over and get the try to seal it.”
The way the All Blacks unlocked the defence at the end, with Jordie Barrett making a half break and offloading to replacement Quinn Tupaea, who found Roigard, was something this team has been striving for all year: accuracy and execution when the game is in the balance. They found it at the perfect time.
“The role of the 9 is to run that support line,” Roigard said. “I think Jordie got a nice offload to Quinn and I’m glad he looked over both shoulders and looked inside. It was cool to look up and see the fans cheering. I’ve only played a couple of Tests at home, so it was pretty special – I was pretty pumped up.”
Roigard threw the ball away in delight only to worry that he had put extra pressure on Damian McKenzie to get it back in time to make the conversion.
“I might get a bit of grief from the boys for throwing the ball away,” Roigard said. “Once I’d scored I was a bit panic stations because I couldn’t find the ball boy and I didn’t want DMac to not put the kick over. It was pretty short lived, the celebration.”
That try as much as anything will be cause for celebration for Robertson and company.
Former All Blacks assistant coach Schmidt said afterwards: “They have a number of outstanding players who challenged us every time they carried the ball. They played with good width at times. They probably won the aerial battle as well.”
There is still a sense that the All Blacks’ defence was too easily breached and that they can lose the momentum of a Test too quickly and easily, but for the coaches those concerns can no doubt wait until tomorrow as they begin preparations for the return Test in Perth on Saturday.
They needed this win for reasons far beyond trophies and records and they got it.
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