Wallabies blow huge lead as All Blacks storm home to claim thrilling Bledisloe Cup win
Leading 17-3 at halftime, the Wallabies were on the cusp of ending 22 years of pain. What happened from there will give Eddie Jones sleepless nights.
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Australia has unbelievably squandered the chance to beat the All Blacks for the first time in 22 years in New Zealand.
Leading 17-3 at halftime, the bumbling Wallabies lost 23-20 in a thrilling Bledisloe Cup contest in Dunedin.
While the result will harshly sting the team, there were finally some strong signs that they are making rapid improvement under coach Eddie Jones.
In the end, however, this was the result of a team used to losing, who couldn’t close out a game they should certainly have won.
At 20-all, a Quade Cooper knock-on gave the All Blacks possession 40 metres out with three minutes remaining.
From the ensuing dominant scrum, Australia conceded a penalty and Richie Mo’unga duly kicked the goal.
The Kiwis won the kick-off, ground out some rucks and kicked the ball out after the siren to keep their 2023 undefeated streak going.
Conversely, the Wallabies are still winless this year.
That means they’ll enter the World Cup in France in September with the worst record of any Wallabies team heading into the major tournament.
They have one more game left, against World Cup favourites France in Paris on August 26, to notch a victory before the competition proper.
In every World Cup year so far, the Wallabies have recorded at least two victories prior to the tournament beginning, most often more.
They won five out of seven before the 1987 World Cup, three out of four before 1991, two out of two before 95, five out of seven before 99, three out of seven before 2003, five out of seven before 07, three out of five before 2011, four out of five before 15 and three out of five before 19.
Here was their chance to get victory No.1 under Jones in his second tenure as Australian coach.
It was Jones who orchestrated the Wallabies’ last win in New Zealand over the All Blacks, in 2002, at the same venue.
And it appeared to be heading for a repeat.
Australia led the game for 64 minutes.
Then debutant backrower Samipeni Finau crashed over the line for a converted try that put the Kiwis 20-17 ahead.
It left Jones slamming his communications radio in the coaches box.
A 47-metre penalty from Cooper had levelled scores with seven minutes remaining, but they didn’t have the composure or capability to push through for the win against an All Blacks team with 12 changes from the side that demolished Australia in Melbourne last week.
It was a near-perfect first half from Australia. They led the Kiwis for the first time at the break in four years, 17-3, on the back of some unflinching attack laid by lightning-fast ruck speed, desperate defence, and smart kicking.
The Wallabies had an even better start than last week, scoring two tries in the opening eight minutes, both down the left wing side of debutant Kiwi winger Shaun Stevenson.
Marika Koroibete crossed from a cutout pass given by Samu Kerevi in the third, before Mark Nawaqanitawase and Andrew Kellaway combined for a brilliant midfield break that led to Tom Hooper crossing in the eighth.
It was 14-0, and then 17-3 in the 23rd when Gordon kicked a penalty to nullify Damian McKenzie’s 14th minute three-pointer.
Stevenson made up for his defensive blunders by crossing three minutes into the second half, off a double cutout pass from McKenzie, who converted from the sideline.
Finau crossed in the 64th and the Australians were suddenly chasing the game.
Having controlled the tempo of the match in the first half, the Wallabies were constantly on the back foot in the second, conceding multiple scrum and breakdown penalties and missing tackles that opened the door for the All Blacks.
The Wallabies suffered a late blow when back-up hooker Jordan Uelese failed to overcome a knee injury in the warm-ups and was replaced by Matt Faessler.
The rookie was suddenly thrust into his debut Test match in the 15th minute when Dave Porecki was injured, and made an immediate impact, nailing his first three lineout throws, charging with the ball and making tackles. That should put him on the plane to France.
Flanker Fraser McReight’s output was far more impressive than against Argentina, and his 59-minute performance, particularly in the breakdown area, was an important statement for how the Wallabies can best play the game.
Pone Fa’amausili was rough and tough at tighthead, a solid sign that he’s capable of filling the big boots left by injured Allan Alaalatoa.
And halves Tate McDermott and Carter Gordon confirmed themselves as the premier combination for the World Cup, while Jordan Petaia improved again at outside centre.
Many World Cup questions were answered here.
But the sense of a missed opportunity in Dunedin will linger for a long, long time.
WALLABIES GIVE FANS REASON TO DREAM
Julian Linden
Maybe, just maybe, there’s a glimmer of hope for the Wallabies after all.
And it’s not because they came close to beating the All Blacks in New Zealand just seven days after getting humiliated at home.
It was an improved performance but it was still a loss and if ever the Wallabies think that losing to the All Blacks is a good result then they should give the game up.
Thankfully, the Wallabies aren’t at that point yet - and that’s the straw which Wallabies fans can clutch on to.
If the first step to solving a problem is owning up to it, perhaps the Wallabies have turned the corner.
For too long, the usual backslappers keep telling the Wallabies how wonderful they are, but Eddie Jones and his players have stopped listening and are calling things as they really are.
“It‘s no good mate,” Jones growled. “It’s a bad feeling. We should have won that game.
Jones is a master of spin but he also knows when to call a spade a spade.
He knows Saturday’s 23-20 loss to the All Blacks in Dunedin was by far the best performance the Wallabies have produced since he replaced the ineffective Dave Rennie.
And he knows that with a highly favourable draw the Wallabies have genuine hope of making a deep run at the World Cup, starting in France next month.
But after years of false alarms, he also knows that talking things up after another close defeat is fool’s gold.
“I think we‘re going in the right direction and there’s a lot for us to be positive about but we also realise that there’s a lot of hard work for us to do,” he said.
“While we haven‘t treated this tournament as a pre-season, we’re building a team for the World Cup.”
Jones has already taken some big gambles that his predeccesor failed to that are starting to pay off.
He’s cleared out some of the older players and brought in some fresher legs, who have already impressed, including halfback Tate McDermott, who did a great job captaining the side on the weekend and should lead the Wallabies at the World Cup.
The key, according to Jones, is for his younger players to bottle the disappointment from losing to New Zealand and never let it happen again.
“As much as I hate New Zealand rugby I have great admiration for the way that they keep at it,” Jones said.
“They keep playing. They keep doing the things they‘re good at. They stay hard in the contest. They keep going.
“For us, you know, we don‘t want to forget that feeling. That’s a really important feeling we had because we’ve got a devastated group of men in there, but if we learn from it is going to be the most potent lesson. It’s going to be more than a PhD from the University of Otago.”
Despite his scathing appraisal about the Wallabies loss to New Zealand, Jones still believes they can contend at this year’s World Cup.
They have one more warm-up match, again France later this month, before their four pool games - against Georgia, Fiji, Wales and Portugal.
If they win their group, as expected, they are likely to play Argentina in the quarter-finals before meeting one of the big boys in the semis.
“I couldn‘t say I’m happy. Four losses are four losses,” Jones said.
“But are we making progress? Sometimes the results don‘t reflect what you’re actually doing. And that’s hard for people to understand.
“I think we‘re definitely moving in the right direction but we’ve got to win games.
“We‘ve got one more game against France, which is obviously a warm up game. And then we’ve got four games we need to win and then you need to win the fifth.
“Then it’s a flip of the coin at the Stade de France at 9pm at night.”
The Wallabies 33-man squad for the World Cup will be announced on Thursday.
McDermott also said none of the players were pleased because it was a closer loss than last weekend.
“We’ve got to be realistic with where we are,” he said.
“In the dressing room, the boys are gutted. We’re working bloody hard.
“We’re not seeing much red at the moment but what we are seeing are small areas of our game growing and growing quickly.”
In his on-field interview, McDermott pleaded with Wallabies fans to stay patient.
“We’re obviously gutted. We put ourselves in a position to win it, we were just chasing our tails that whole second half.
“I’m disappointed with our result but I’m proud of that effort. Obviously not happy with it but from where we were last week to where we are now, it’s a massive step up.
We’re trending in the right direction. It’s frustrating hearing that, particularly for the guys back home, it must drive your head in, but we truly believe what we’re doing, particularly in the attack space, is going to work a treat for us in the future. We’ve just got to continue to be hard on ourselves and hold the ball in that space.”
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Originally published as Wallabies blow huge lead as All Blacks storm home to claim thrilling Bledisloe Cup win
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