Bledisloe Cup: All Blacks beat Wallabies 37-10 for record 18th straight win

Updated

New Zealand has survived a huge scare to beat Australia 37-10 in Auckland and record a world-record 18th consecutive Test victory.

Against all odds, the Wallabies had the All Blacks under pressure on Saturday night for the first time all year before a controversial no-try ruling cruelly denied the underdogs the chance to break a 30-year Eden Park hoodoo.

Winger Henry Speight appeared to have locked up the match at 15-all in the 45th minute — with Bernard Foley's conversion attempt to come — only for the television match official to intervene.

Fellow Wallabies winger Dane Haylett-Petty was deemed to have changed his line and taken out Julian Savea as his opposite number was pursuing Speight.

The decision left the Wallabies fuming, with the All Blacks rubbing salt into the wound 10 metres later with an 80m try to Savea against the run of play to turn the Test.

Powerhouse Savea completed a try-scoring double later on, with the final 27-point winning margin no reflection of the enthralling contest.

The victory in front of 47,744 mostly delirious All Blacks fans completed an 18-match winning streak that began in 2015 against the Wallabies at the same venue — where New Zealand are unbeaten since 1994.

After falling to England earlier in 2016, the loss also consigned the Wallabies to 3-0 series defeats against two nations in a single season for the first time.

The Wallabies nevertheless showed vast improvement after 42-8 and 29-9 losses to the world champions in the Bledisloe Cup clashes in Sydney and Wellington.

After a rare lineout steal, the Wallabies should have opened the scoring four minutes in, only for Foley to miss a penalty goal from in front.

The All Blacks were swift to punish the Australians for the let-off, with Israel Dagg finishing superbly out wide after some signature razzle-dazzle from the world champions.

The All Blacks were in again almost immediately, with Anton Leinert-Brown strolling over after an error in judgement from Speight, who left a gaping hole after a failed intercept attempt.

The Wallabies looked like deers in headlights, trailing 10-0 after as many minutes, but clawed their way back after dominating territory and possession for the next half-hour.

A Rory Arnold try in the 28th minute, Foley's conversion and a 50m penalty goal attempt from Reece Hodge gave the Wallabies the chance to drawl level at 10-all.

But then All Blacks half-back TJ Perenara charged down a Hodge kick after a Wallabies scrum win deep in their own quarter to score and give the hosts a 15-7 half-time advantage.

AAP

Topics: rugby-union, sport, new-zealand

First posted</s>Auckland, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand overwhelmed Australia 37-10 Saturday in the third Bledisloe Cup rugby test to post a world record 18th-straight test win.

The All Blacks outscored Australia six tries to one to surpass the record streak of the New Zealand team which won 17 tests between 1965 and 1969, the Springboks who won the same number in the late 1990s and a later All Blacks team whose 17-match streak was ended by Australia in 2014.

New Zealand faced a much more competitive Australian team on Saturday than the ones they had beaten 42-8 and 29-9 in earlier Bledisloe Cup matches this season to extend their 14-year hold on that trophy.

New Zealand also continued their winning streak against Australia at Eden Park which stretches back 30 years to 1986 and remained unbeaten against the Wallabies at all New Zealand venues since 2001.

The All Blacks remain unbeaten in a world record 45 tests at home since 2009 and Kieran Read became the first test captain to lead his team to 19 consecutive test victories.

“We had a good buildup during the week and there was a lot of talk in the media about the record,” Read said. “I’m really stoked for the lads.

“The Wallabies really brought it to us tonight. We had to dig deep. It took 70-odd minutes before we really opened them up.”

The records helped to disguise the worst performance by the All Blacks this season, which was induced by a combative Australian team.

After scoring three early tries, New Zealand were bustled into errors by the Wallabies who were especially aggressive and competitive at the tackle and at breakdowns, winning more than 60 percent of possession and spending more than seven minutes inside the All Blacks’ 22.

“They put us under pressure in certain areas and played really well in doing that,” Read said. “I think once we held onto the ball we were much better and it was pretty awesome there at the end.”

The difference between the teams was finishing ability, as it has been repeatedly between New Zealand and all of the teams they have faced since their winning streak began at Eden Park in August 2015.

New Zealand had a handful of scoring chances on Saturday and converted nearly all of them. Australia had few and converted only one, though they also had a try contentiously disallowed during the second half which would have drawn it level with New Zealand at 15-15.

That incident and another almost immediately afterward highlighted one of the weaknesses of this Wallabies team under their current coach Michael Cheika.

In the 45th minute Henry Speight was dashing away to score the try which would have tied the scores when his winger Dane Haylett-Petty shoulder checked All Blacks winger Julian Savea who was in fruitless pursuit. Savea wouldn’t have prevented the try being scored but Haylett-Petty’s action, spotted by the video referee, led to Speight’s try being disallowed.

Two minutes later, All Blacks hooker Dane Coles was in pursuit of a ball kicked behind the Wallabies line when he was impeded by Australian flyhalf Bernard Foley. Referee Nigel Owens considered video footage and decided no offense had been committed but Foley’s challenge on Coles was clumsy and easily could have yielded a penalty try.

That focus on needless off-the-ball play, a feature of the Wallabies’ style under Cheika, let them down Saturday when they were more than competitive for 50 minutes.

New Zealand once again over-ran their opponents in the last 30 minutes, as they have throughout the season, when Savea scored two tries and contributed to another for Coles.

Australia had trailed 15-10 after 50 minutes and must have thought they had a chance on a ground where they hadn’t won in the last 30 years. When the Wallabies were next able to draw breath and look up at the scoreboard, the All Blacks had an unassailable lead.

Savea scored his first try in the 53rd minute, after a quiet first half, when All Blacks fullback Ben Smith pounced on a Wallabies turnover and put in a kick ahead which the winger retrieved.

He scored again in the 68th minute when he was given space down the left flank and bumped off the ineffectual tackles of Speight and Nick Frisby.

Savea then powered down the touchline in the 72nd minute and, when held, handed off to Coles who dotted down in the corner.

The All Blacks had seemed on course for a substantial win when they scored two tries early in the first half.

Winger Israel Dagg scored after only six minutes after a break by center Anton Lienert-Brown and some marvelous interplay involving Ben Smith, who handled twice, Read and Dagg.

Lienert-Brown scored four minutes later from a defensive error at a scrum and, at 10-0 in as many minutes, it seemed the All Blacks would overwhelm their opponents.

But the Wallabies hit back with a try to rookie lock Rory Arnold and the All Blacks needed a charge-down try to scrumhalf T.J. Perenara in the 33rd minute to take a 15-7 lead to halftime.

Flyhalf Beauden Barrett missed the conversions of each of those tries and was replaced in the 44th by Aaron Cruden, who kicked three of his four shots at goal.

The Wallabies were almost dominant in the middle stages of the match but were unable to turn a heavy advantage of possession into points. They have now lost seven of 10 tests this season.

The All Blacks soaked up pressure and struck back when chances appeared.

“We came over here to get a result and we knew it’s always tough here,” Wallabies captain Stephen Moore said. “We had a plan and I thought we were right in the game for most of it.

“But I think a lot of the tries came from turnovers. They’re a quality side and they deserved the win.”</s>New Zealand All Blacks TJ Perenara (C) performs the haka during the third rugby Bledisloe Cup against Australia at Eden Park in Auckland on October 22, 2016 (AFP)</s>World champions New Zealand were challenged for 50 minutes but still ran in six tries to beat 37-10 Australia in Auckland on Saturday to become the first top tier nation to win 18 consecutive test matches.

Less than a year after becoming the first nation to win back-to-back World Cups and with a much-changed line-up, Steve Hansen's side bolstered their claim to being the greatest ever rugby team.

Julian Savea scored two tries as Israel Dagg, Anton Lienert-Brown, TJ Perenara and Dane Coles also crossed to help the 2015-16 All Blacks better the record held by the 2013-2014 and 1965-1969 vintages, as well as the 1997-1998 Springboks.

New Zealand's last defeat was at the hands of the Wallabies in Sydney last year but Australia breaking their 30-year Eden Park hoodoo was always going to be a tall order, even if a try from Rory Arnold was scant consolation for a spirited display.</s>Australia had the ball but New Zealand scored the tries as they set a new record for consecutive Test victories by a tier one nation, reaching 18 having come of age long before. The Wallabies played some of their best rugby since last year’s World Cup, taking the game to the All Blacks and having 65% of the possession, but they lacked the opportunism of their opponents.

Despite having to make more than twice as many tackles as Australia and spending nearly 70% of the match in their own half, New Zealand scored six tries to one and had a seventh disallowed in the final minute. They were some way below their fluent best, hustled into mistakes and forced to bring on replacements early, but only three times had they scored more points against their greatest foes in winning 37-10.

It was not only New Zealand’s 18th straight Test victory, a run which started last year after they had been beaten by Australia in Sydney, but their 45th in a row at home, another record. They have still to be beaten at Eden Park in the professional era and they take off for their four-match tour of the northern hemisphere, which starts against Ireland in Chicago on 6 November, determined to beat Cyprus’s record of 21 consecutive wins.

“We are not happy with 18 and want to keep going,” said the New Zealand captain, Kieran Read. “Australia really brought it to us and we had to dig deep. It took 70 minutes to open them up and it is not going to be any easier in the north.”

It would have been more difficult against Australia but for a controversial refereeing decision five minutes into the second half. The Wallabies had but New Zealand’s 15-7 interval lead by a Bernard Foley penalty and thought they had drawn level when Henry Speight scored in the right-hand corner after Foley’s break.

As the referee Nigel Owens awarded the try, the television match official Shaun Veldsman told him to hold back as he wanted to review an incident off the ball when the Australia wing Dane Haylett-Petty, running behind Speight, moved into the line of Julian Savea and put out his hand to check his opposite number.

The try was disallowed, and with it the chance for Foley to give his side the lead with the conversion, even though Savea appeared to have had little chance of catching Speight. The decision was balanced a couple of minutes later when Foley looked to have impeded Dane Coles as they raced to get first to the ball over Australia’s line, but the Speight call was a momentum changer. Fortune tends to favour the successful.

“It was a big moment for sure,” said the Australia captain Stephen Moore, as he reflected on his side’s second 3-0 setback of the year after being whitewashed by England in the summer. It would probably only have reduced the margin of victory given the flourish with which the All Blacks have come to end matches, but it was hard on a side which on this form will be a threat in Europe next month.

New Zealand are a class apart because they have so many match winners. Savea spent the opening period looking like a man who had been asked for his ticket at the door of a party and could not find it. He turned gatecrasher after the break, bouncing off challenges from Speight and Nick Frisby to score his second try and 45th in 49 internationals.

Dane Coles again played like a three-quarter with the No2 on his back. He was rewarded with his side’s final try which ended a passage of play which lasted more than two minutes, one which started when the Australia flanker Dean Mumm intercepted a pass and ran into New Zealand’s half where the force of Coles’s challenge made him spill the ball. When Savea again broke the defence, Coles was on hand to take the wing’s pass one metre out.

Beauden Barrett has been one of New Zealand’s stand-out players this year, but the outside-half lasted only 44 minutes before being replaced by Aaron Cruden. He had missed three conversions and a penalty. There was no Aaron Smith at scrum-half but that was no inconvenience as TJ Perenara sniped, hounded and harried and scored a try when he anticipated Reece Hodge would waste a moment by switching feet in attempting a clearance kick and charged it down.

Australia took the game to New Zealand, not wobbling when they went 10-0 down against the run of play, but they were made to pay for mistakes, not least the hapless Speight. The All Blacks march on, fallible for sure, but buoyed by the self-assurance greatness bestows. “This is the best All Blacks team I have ever seen,” said a former captain of the side, Sean Fitzpatrick, who played in a few that could lay claim to the title. And the best, it is hard not to suspect, is yet to come.</s>It was hardly vintage All Blacks and the tense game at Eden Park wasn't settled until Savea's game-breaking effort in the second half, scoring two tries and setting up a third.

But the ultimately convincing win rewrites the record books for Steve Hansen's side, who surpass the top-tier record winning streak of 17 set by the All Blacks of 1965-1969 and matched twice since.

"(There was) a lot of build-up during the week, obviously a lot of talk in the media and everything. I think it will sink in later on but I'm really stoked," said New Zealand captain Kieran Read.

"It took 30-odd minutes before we really opened them up so I'm really proud of the lads... (Australia) put us under pressure in certain areas. They played really well," he added.

The All Blacks hit the front in the fifth minute when Israel Dagg scored and they never surrendered the lead, but for long periods Australia dictated terms and only stout defence earned the All Blacks their place in history.

They were only ahead 15-10 — after Australia had had a try disallowed by the TV match official — and defending constantly with 25 minutes to play when Savea burst into life.

New Zealand's Julian Savea (right) looks to get away from Australia's Michael Hooper during the third rugby Bledisloe Cup Test between the New Zealand All Blacks and Australia at Eden Park in Auckland on October 22, 2016. PHOTO | MICHAEL BRADLEY | AFP

There were questions ahead of the game whether the Wallabies would prove giantkillers, having stymied the All Blacks three times in recent years when the record was on the cards.

Aaron Cruden, brought off the bench early in the second half after Beauden Barrett missed the first three conversions, added seven points with the boot. 

Rory Arnold scored Australia's only try with Foley adding a conversion and penalty.

The Test record caps a remarkable 12 months in which the All Blacks became the first team to successfully defend the World Cup, retained the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup for a 14th consecutive year and won the Rugby Championship for the fourth time in five years.

The Wallabies had the first opportunity to score only for Foley to hook a 33-metre penalty and the All Blacks responded immediately, exposing the Wallaby centres with two smart tries.

Ben Smith ran around Reece Hodge to put Dagg over wide out for the first touchdown and four minutes later Lienert-Brown, taking a short pass from Ryan Crotty, zipped past Samu Kerevi for the second.

For 15 minutes through the middle of the first half the Wallabies enjoyed a measure of control and they eventually broke the All Blacks defence when Arnold used all of his 2.08 metres (6ft 9in) to stretch out and score in the 28th minute.

They had a chance to turn it into a 10-point try, as Read was penalised in a confrontation on the line, but Hodge was astray with his long-range attempt at the restart.

Foley landed a penalty early in the second half and Australia continued to keep pressure on the All Blacks until Smith broke out from his own 22 and set up Savea's first try.</s>Australia went down 37-10 at Eden Park in Auckland, prompting Wallabies coach Michael Cheika to say: "The way they play the game is outstanding."

"We have to learn that you cannot turn the ball over against these chaps because they will punish you."

His reaction follows a bad-tempered atmosphere between the fierce rivals ahead of Saturday's game and in the post-match reaction.

The New Zealand Herald earlier published a full page cartoon of Cheika with a red nose and under the heading "Send in the clowns." Australian captain Steven Moore was quoted by the newspaper as saying it had been "disrespectful." And Cheika echoed the comment in his post-match interview on the official Wallabies website. New Zealand coach Steve Hansen downplayed the clown incident after the record-breaking win, denying that the All Blacks lacked respect. Michael Cheika spoke to the media after tonight's #NZLvAUS match. READ: https://t.co/kdnWQT9WfF — Qantas Wallabies (@qantaswallabies) 22 October 2016 "Our guys respect them a lot, we went to war with these guys," he said on the All Blacks site. "At what point does winning mean you are not respecting them." The win marks another high point for New Zealand. The team made a clean sweep in The Rugby Championship finishing top of the southern hemisphere competition with six victories and 30 points. All Blacks fly-half Beauden Barrett was top scorer with 81 points, and the top try scorer was team mate Ben Smith with five. The focus will shortly move to the northern hemisphere with the autumn internationals. Ireland has the toughest task in the first round of matches on November 5 as it takes on the record-breaking All Blacks, while Australia faces Wales in Cardiff.</s>All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has accused Wallabies counterpart Michael Cheika of “hijacking” New Zealand’s world record celebrations in a sensational aftermath to Saturday night’s Bledisloe Cup finale in Auckland. Seething at being dressed up as a red-nosed clown in the New Zealand Herald on the morning of the match, Cheika claimed the All Blacks don’t respect the Wallabies.

In an extraordinary rant after Australia’s 37-10 loss at Eden Park, Cheika was also upset at not receiving a direct invitation into the triumphant dressing room after the All Blacks chalked up an unprecedented 18th consecutive tier-one Test match win.

But Cheika’s biggest gripe was the cartoon illustration in New Zealand’s national newspaper. “They dressed us up as clowns today. They put our crest on it, so they wouldn’t want our comment (about the record),” Cheika snapped. “I don’t think they respect our comment, anyway, so we won’t make one.”

Cheika eventually congratulated the All Blacks for their “oustanding” accomplishment before Wallabies captain Stephen Moore intervened to savage the newspaper, saying he was deeply offended.

“The way the jersey is portrayed in that picture, for everyone that has pulled that on in the history of the Wallabies, I think that’s pretty disrespectful,” Moore said. “They won the game so they’re the ones laughing, so what do you do?”

Cheika stopped short of saying relationships between the Wallabies and All Blacks team ranks were frayed. “They’re on top and we’re nowhere at this stage. That’s the relationship between the teams,” he said. “The thing that got me a bit offside was the accusation (before the first Test in Sydney in August) that we tried to bug them.

“Like, really? Hello. Honestly? ... That’s what would cause that bad (blood) for me, that show of lack of respect. I wouldn’t even be smart enough to get that stuff organised. I’m too busy working on my own team. They hold onto it, drop it on the day of the game. They don’t need to do that stuff. They’re too good anyway.”

“It’s only because they want to do it to try and needle either me or us. I wouldn’t say it’s friendly.”

Cheika said he’d happily share a beer with the All Blacks, but hadn’t been asked to. Hansen, though, insisted there was always an “open invitation” into the All Blacks team room for the opposition and said the All Blacks respected the Wallabies “immensely”. He then accused Cheika of “sulking”.

“The paper I saw, he was dressed up like a clown. You’ve got to be bigger than that, don’t you?” Hansen said. “I’ve been dressed up as a clown myself. You don’t want to take it to heart, otherwise it’ll break you.

“We’ve got no control over what the media do ... the thing for me, this conference tonight seems to have been hijacked by something that’s really got nothing to do with rugby, (by) someone feeling a little aggrieved about things that you guys have done, making him be a clown.

“It shouldn’t get hijacked tonight. What happened tonight is a really good Test match between two good teams, some great rugby played and it was a good advert for the game.”</s>World champions New Zealand were challenged for 50 minutes but still ran in six tries to beat Australia 37-10 in Auckland and become the first top tier nation to win 18 consecutive test matches.

Less than a year after becoming the first country to win back-to-back World Cups and with a much-changed line-up, Steve Hansen’s side bolstered their claim to being the greatest ever rugby team.

Julian Savea scored two tries and Israel Dagg, Anton Lienert-Brown, TJ Perenara and Dane Coles also crossed to help the 2015-16 All Blacks better the record held by the 2013-14 and 1965-69 New Zealanders, and the 1997-1998 Springboks.

“We are proud to have got to 18 wins in a row but we had to work hard for it tonight,” Hansen said afterwards.

New Zealand’s last defeat was at the hands of the Wallabies in Sydney last year but Australia always faced a tall order to break their 30-year Eden Park hoodoo, even if a single try from Rory Arnold was scant consolation for a spirited effort.

The All Blacks were already assured of retaining the Bledisloe Cup after emphatic victories over Australia in Sydney and Wellington and extended their winning streak on home soil to 45 tests.

They took only six minutes to score their first try, fullback Ben Smith slipping his marker, centre Reece Hodge, and sending winger Dagg scampering to the line.

Beauden Barrett missed the extras but four minutes later centre Lienert-Brown was running in the second try after Australia winger Henry Speight’s attempted intercept left a huge hole in the defensive line.

The Wallabies enjoyed a good deal of territory but were unable to turn it into points until lock Arnold reached over the line with a second effort in the 29th minute.

All Blacks skipper Kieran Read was penalised for a shove just after the score but Hodge was unable to convert the penalty attempt from the halfway line to even up the scores.

New Zealand extended their advantage when Perenara charged down Hodge’s clearance kick and re-gathered to give the All Blacks a 15-7 lead at halftime.

Bernard Foley soon cut that lead to five points with a penalty and four minutes after the break thought he had sent Speight in for a try to level the scores.

Referee Nigel Owens, however, called back play because he adjudged that Dane Haylett-Petty had impeded Savea and prevented him from attempting to tackle Speight.

It was a call that clearly infuriated Australia coach Michael Cheika.

“Obviously I can’t say anything because they’ve got you by the throat,” Cheika told reporters.

“I’ve never seen shepherding from behind before. But we can only call it a turning-point if we lose by less than one score.”

Savea’s name was the next on the scoresheet in the 54th minute as New Zealand typically exploited turnover ball inside their own half to set the hulking winger for his 44th try in 49 tests.

The 45th came 12 minutes from time, again from turnover ball, and with a 32-10 lead, any nerves the home side were experiencing had dissipated and Savea sent Coles over for the final try of the night after 74 minutes.

The All Blacks now head to face Ireland in Chicago and Dublin as well as Italy and France, looking to inch towards the overall test record held by Cyprus.

The Cypriots racked up 24 straight wins by beating the likes of Austria, Bulgaria and Luxembourg before their streak was snapped by Latvia in November 2014.</s>Australia coach Michael Cheika fumed over what he perceived as disrespect from the All Blacks after the world champions beat his Wallabies side to secure the top tier record for consecutive test wins on Saturday.

The 37-10 victory at Eden Park was the 18th in a row for New Zealand and completed a 3-0 sweep of this year’s Bledisloe Cup series after emphatic wins over Australia in Sydney and Wellington in August.

Cheika was left incandescent with rage in the coach’s box soon after halftime when Australia had a Henry Speight try, which would have levelled the scores, disallowed for the obstruction of a potential tackler.

After the match, though, his major concern appeared to be an illustration on the front page of the sport section of a New Zealand newspaper on Saturday that had depicted him as a clown replete with the Wallabies crest on his smock.

“I don’t think they really want my comment anyway,” he told reporters in Auckland when asked what he thought of New Zealand’s record achievement.

“They dressed us up as clowns today, so they wouldn’t really want our comment. I don’t think they respect our comment anyway so we won’t make one.

“It was on the front page of the paper bro.”

Cheika then suggested that allegations of bugging at the All Blacks team hotel, a story that was held for a week and broken on the morning of the first Bledisloe test in Sydney, had also shown a “lack of respect”.

“They don’t need to do that stuff,” he added. “They’re too good anyway. It’s only because they want to do it to try and needle either me or us.”

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen dismissed the idea that New Zealand had no respect for the Wallabies as “rubbish” and said Cheika had hijacked the news conference.

“This conference tonight seems to have been hijacked by something that’s really got nothing to do with rugby, someone feeling a little aggrieved about things that you guys have done, making him be a clown,” he said.

“It shouldn’t get hijacked tonight, what happened tonight is a really good test match.

“You’ve got to be bigger than that, don’t you? I’ve been dressed up as a clown myself. You don’t want to take it to heart otherwise it’ll break you. We’ve got no control over what the media do.”

Hansen and Cheika also disagreed over the Speight try being disallowed, a decision prompted by television official Shaun Veldsman that South African former test referee Jonathan Kaplan described on Twitter as “absurd”.

“I’ve never seen shepherding from behind before,” Cheika said.

“But we can only call it a turning point if we lose by less than one score. Having said that, someone’s got to own that mistake. We’ll see if World Rugby come out with an announcement or anything like that.”
In rugby union, the New Zealand All Blacks win a record 18th consecutive test match, defeating the Australian Wallabies 37–10 at Eden Park, Kingsland, Auckland, New Zealand.