The Australians showewd plenty of heart with an excellent fightback but were ultimately left to rue the errant goal kicking of Noah Lolesio.
New Zealand v Australia
Saturday 14 August
Eden Park
12:05
To Win (80 Mins)
New Zealand 1/20
Draw 33/1
Australia 8/1
Handicap
New Zealand (-21.5) 9/10
Australia (+21.5) 9/10
Well, we certainly got a game in Bledisloe 1, although it took a rather long time to ignite, but ignite it did… with the All Blacks running out 33-25 winners.
While the scoreline tends to illustrate a rather tight affair, it wasn’t that for most of the 80 minutes with the All Blacks extending their eight-point half-time lead courtesy of Crusaders duo Richie Mounga and Davd Ha’vili scoring before the 60-minute mark. Damien McKenzie would add another five pointer with 15 minutes of the game left.
It was all Australia from then on in, however, with Tom Banks grabbing two tries and hooker Jordan Uelese scoring in injury time to ensure the Wallabies would only go down by eight points.
That late comeback was one of a number of positives on the day for the Aussies. Others were the performance of centre Hunter Paisami and fullback Tom Banks, who demonstrated just how lethal he can be with ball-in-hand.
While the All Blacks will be rather annoyed with conceding three late tries, there were also some promising aspects for them to take out of it. Brodie Retallick looked as comfortable as ever even though this was his first game back against Tier 1 opposition, while David Ha’vili is slowly making that number 12 jersey his own.
In team news, there is only one enforced change to the All Blacks’ side with Rieko Ioane coming at 13 for Anton Lienert-Brown who has been ruled out with a knee injury.
On the bench, Samisoni Taukei’aho replaces Dane Coles as the reserve hooker while Scott Barrett returns to the bench. There is also space for TJ Peranara on the bench after the wily half-back impressed in the NPC for Wellington last week.
There are changes aplenty for the Australians. Marika Koroibete replaces Jordan Petaia on the bench. There are also starts for Matt To’omua and Matt Philip.
Lachie Swinton packs down at 6 while Nic White is fit enough for the bench.
Verdict: New Zealand (-21.5) 9/10
The handicap is a lot shorter than last weekend, and I reckon the All Blacks will put in a far more polished performance. As such, all signs point to the hosts clearing the ‘cap.
