Thrilling fightback too late for Wallabies as All Blacks hang on

A thrilling second-half fightback from the Wallabies could not overcome the damage done in a calamitous opening 25 minutes at Accor Stadium as New Zealand hung on for a 31-28 victory on Saturday.

The Wallabies farewelled the Bledisloe Cup for a 23rd straight year, but the crowd of 68,061 was treated to a grandstand finish, Australia rallying from a terrible first half and pushing the All Blacks through to the final minutes.

Things looked grim after the Wallabies conceded four tries in the first 25 minutes to trail 28-7. And though they scrambled to trail by just 14 at half-time, the Kiwis had another three tries disallowed on other side of the break.

But the Wallabies finally woke up and by reducing the endless mistakes of the first half, staged a fightback.

With their bench players making a huge impact, the Wallabies scored in the 65th minute to bring the score to 31-21, and then took advantage of the All Blacks losing two players to the sin bin inside the last 15 minutes to bag another in the 78th minute when Tom Wright crossed.

But the Wallabies took too long to take advantage of the extra man – particularly by failing to score in a three-minute stretch when the Kiwis had just 13 men on the field. Needing to take the ball downfield to score in the last minute, the Wallabies turned over possession from the kick-off and the All Blacks survived.

James Slipper and the Wallabies rue another missed opportunity.Credit: Getty

Remarkably, for a game that looked like being an All Blacks thumping, the teams ended up with four tries apiece, and Damien McKenzie’s 42nd minute penalty goal was all that separated them.

The result ensured the Wallabies can’t win back the Bledisloe in the second clash in Wellington next week, and gave James Slipper a bittersweet milestone game, having become the Wallabies’ most capped player (140) when he came on in the second half.

As much as they were bouyed by the fightback and outscoring the Kiwis 14-3 in the second half, the Wallabies were left to rue the self-inflicted damage in the first half, when the All Blacks gratefully gobbled up the field position and attacking opportunities gifted to them.

“They were gritty, but they also put together some pretty good footy,” Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said.

“The reality is they maybe could have got more of a margin on the scoreboard if they’d finished a couple of opportunities, so we’ve got to be realistic about that, but we probably missed a couple of opportunities toward the end there as well, which was really frustrating to get so close.

The All Blacks with the spoils of victory - again.Credit: Getty

“We can’t finish a close second. There’s some things to be proud about … but giving a New Zealand side a start like that, it’s too tough to overcome that, albeit it it almost did happen at the finish. By no means is it back to the drawing board.”

Wallabies captain Harry Wilson, who led from the front again, was also critical of all early errors.

“Once we held on to the ball and got through phases, our shape looked a lot better,” Wilson said.

“We started cutting them up a bit. It’s obviously a bit tougher when you give them the head start there at the start. We can’t really give a team like New Zealand that head start, but we’re really proud of the way we worked back into the game. We put ourselves in a position where we could have won it there at the end.

“We took the positive from that, but in saying that, we just lost to the Kiwis, so we’ve got to be realistic. We need to win those sort of moments.”

Hope in the massive crowd of a competitive Wallabies showing was dimmed almost immediately after kick-off when a string of mistakes by the home side led to the Kiwis scoring inside two minutes.

Wallabies halfback Nic White is tackled.Credit: Getty

The mistakes kept coming, and Rieko Ioane scored a second for the All Blacks in the eighth minute when an aimless box kick wasn’t chased, and numbers on the left edge were exposed all too easily.

The Wallabies were desperate to get into the game but kept shooting themselves in the foot, and when Wilson gave up an easy intercept in his own half, Caleb Clarke scored another Kiwi try.

At 21-0, it looked like it would be a long afternoon of standing under the posts for the Wallabies.

But Fraser McReight responded with an 18th-minute try after a rare penalty and foray into the All Blacks’ half.

In the 24th minute, another attempt to counter-attack from the Wallabies half backfired when Hunter Paisami tried to push on a silly pass and Sevu Reece grabbed it and gave Ardie Savea a fourth try.

The Wallabies didn’t pack up, to their credit. Hooker Matt Faessler broke off a rolling maul and powered through the defence to score.

The All Blacks missed the chance to kill off the Wallabies, though, with “tries” to Jordie Barrett, Savea and Cortez Ratima all scrubbed off by the TMO due to mistakes in the lead-up.

The Wallabies bench players made a big impact when they came on, particularly Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, whose run set up a try for Hunter Paisami in the 65th minute.

Anton Lienert-Brown also saw a yellow card, and when Clarke copped a yellow in the 71st minute, the Kiwis were reduced to 13 men.

Len Ikitau immediately crossed the line in a long-range effort, but it was scrubbed after a knock-on in the lead up. Wright eventually scored but it was too late.

“It just shows how much any Aussie team that you play, they just won’t go away. They just keep finding a way to turn up,” All Blacks coach Scott Robertson said.

“We knew at some stage we were going to get into a fight and didn’t sort of plan to go that deep, but they’ve got some great young talent and some spirit.”