All Blacks deliver another heartbreaking loss after courageous Wallabies effort

A Quade Cooper fumble and a lack of experienced front-rowers proved costly after the All Blacks rallied from behind to yet again deliver a heartbreaking loss to the Wallabies in the final minutes in Dunedin on Saturday.

Australia led 17-3 at halftime but after allowing the Kiwis to surge back into the game, scores were level at 20-all in the last five minutes and Australia were looking to score some match-winning points.

But a knock-on from Cooper led to a scrum, and with the Wallabies fielding one debutant front-rower and another in his second Test, the All Blacks won a penalty and Richie Mo’unga kicked a 78th minute goal from 40 metres out to seal the 23-20 win.

It brought back painful memories of the Wallabies’ last visit to Dunedin in 2017, when New Zealand also scored in the last two minutes to win, and dashed Australia’s chance of breaking a drought of victories in New Zealand dating back to 2001.

It was a spirited performance, with lots of positives from a Wallabies side which hasn’t shown much in 2023, but it left coach Eddie Jones with a scowl on his face at full-time, knowing full well the Wallabies had blown a major chance to down the All Blacks.

“It’s no good mate, it’s a bad feeling,” Jones said. “We should have won that game. We did enough to win that game but we don’t have the capacity to keep doing the simple things well.

Will Skelton charges into the All Blacks’ defensive line.Credit: Getty

“We obviously got in trouble in the scrum which cost us a couple of penalties and a couple of roll-away (penalties) early and our support play dropped off. They are all things that we are responsible for, and that’s the disappointing thing.

“We started with such intent and focus in the first half and the second half we just couldn’t continue doing it. We do have a capacity issue of doing the simple things well. We are definitely focussed on the right things, we just can’t do it for long enough at the moment.

I have a really good group of young players now, who really want to take this team forward. I said to them, ‘We have an opportunity to be new heroes of Australian rugby’, and we didn’t quite make it. But they are taking steps in the right direction.”

The Wallabies looked superb in the first half and bounced out to a 17-3 lead early, via tries to Marika Koroibete and Tom Hooper, and they controlled the game and forced the Kiwis into mistakes.

But the Wallabies fell away in the second half, and allowed the All Blacks to power back into the game via the self-inflicted damage of penalties, handling errors and poor breakdown effectiveness.

Having rolled out their star players off the bench, the All Blacks gratefully accepted all the chances and scored almost every time they came down to Australia’s quarter.

With hooker Matt Faessler a late call-up due to an injury to Jordan Uelese, and with Zane Nonggorr finishing the game due to injuries to Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou, the Wallabies’ scrum fell away in the second half and allowed New Zealand to build the pressure up.

“We are obviously guttted, we put ourselves into a position to win it but we seemed to be chasing our tails in the second half,” Wallabies captain Tate McDermott said.

“You have to give them credit for the way they came out of the blocks. Disappointed by the result but I am proud of that effort but from where we last week to where we are now, it’s a massive step up.”

New Zealand No.8 Ardie Savea said: “It was tough, we got smacked in the first half. But I am proud of the boys’ efforts in coming back in the second half and getting the win.”

The Wallabies led the All Blacks 17-3 at halftime - which was the first time in four years the Australians had hit the sheds in front against New Zealand.

The opening 40 was the best the side had played in almost that time, too, and their strength in collisions and good discipline early helped them shoot out to a lead with the game clock still in single digits.

Just as they did in Dunedin in 2017, the Wallabies silenced the crowd as they were still settling into their seats when Koroibete scored in just the third minute. After a Mark Nawaqanitawase line break, the ball was swung left to Koroibete with quick hands on a short side, and he just stayed in to score in the corner.

All Blacks winger Leicester Fainga’anuku takes on the Wallabies’ defence.Credit: Getty

Gordon added the extras and more New Zealand mistakes saw the Australians return to the Kiwi half. Another line break via a Nawaqanitawase offload put the Aussies on the attack, and big flanker Tom Hooper isolated Damian McKenzie on the left sideline. The Brumbies flanker powered over the top of the All Blacks No.10 and he scored in almost the same spot in the left corner.

Again Gordon nailed the extras, and when a rattled New Zealand pointed at the sticks in the 12th minute to get some points from a penalty, it was another small victory for the visitors.

The Kiwis were, unusually, making handling mistakes against Australia’s urgent defence and twice gave up scrum penalties; which allowed the Wallabies to keep up the attacking pressure in the Kiwi half.

Carter added another penalty to make it 17-3 in the 21st minute but the Australians turned down a few more chances for more points via penalty in favour of kicking to the corner.

The maul continued to splutter but McDermott almost scored a third try in the 28th minute when he scooted through and over the line, but was held up brilliantly by Sam Whitelock and Ardie Savea.

With superb, patient defence, the Wallabies weathered the storm in the 10 minutes before halftime when New Zealand teams so often strike and went into the sheds with confidence and momentum.

The Kiwis were always going to respond, and with a lapse in the Wallabies’ discipline, they did.

After two penalties against the Wallabies for not rolling away, the All Blacks put on the pressure and debutant Shaun Stevenson scored in the right corner after some sustained attack in the 43rd minute.

The Wallabies mistakes kept happening, and the Kiwis kept up the pressure. Winger Leicester Fainga’anuku crossed again in the 55th minute but he dropped the ball in the act of scoring.

Mo’unga added a penalty soon after and a chance for Gordon to match it was narrowly missed after that, when it hit the post.

More self-inflicted damage then ensued for Australia. After a knock-on at a lineout, the Wallabies’ scrum was crunched and the Kiwis returned to the Wallabies’ line. Pressure told, again, when Samipeni Finau scored again for the hosts in the 63rd minute, to give New Zealand the lead 20-17.

Cooper banged over a 55-metre penalty in the 72nd minute to equal the scores and set up a thrilling finish.