by Rajitha Ratwatte

Bledisloe 2 would be a close-run thing we thought. Maybe the aura of Eden Park the bastion of the All Blacks would have lost its sheen as this was the second game in two weeks. Well, it started like that with a closely contested first half. The Wallabies playing with the wind behind them, suffered an early setback with Rikko Ioane in his makeshift position of no13 intercepting a long pass from the hapless Noah Lolesio and streaking down 70 meters or so to score under the posts inside the first five minutes. 7–0 to the ABs but the Aussie scrum had given a good account of itself earlier and even won a penalty off the first scrum inside two minutes. Marika Korobiete stamped his class on the game just three minutes later with a penetrating run and Lolesio tried to make up for his mistake by a clever cross-kick to Kellaway on the wing who scored far right for a five pointer that Lolesio couldn’t convert. 7–5 and the Kiwis seemed to have changed their game plan not taking a very kickable penalty and choosing the touch option. However, the Wallaby defence stood up to the task so much so that Sam Whitelock the All-Blacks skipper chose to try for points off the next penalty they got but Ritchie Mo’uanga was not able to convert from the left of the posts as has been a consistent issue with him. It was only in the 23rd minute that we saw the magnificent sight of Brodie Retallick that huge second row forward running twenty meters untouched, off a good pass delivered by Rikko Ioane and scoring under the posts for the Blacks. 14-5 but the New Zealand defence were still getting caught offside inside their 22 and a penalty in the 30th minute was duly slotted, and the margin reduced to 14–8. Ardie Savea the ABs no8 was probably enjoying the absence of Wilson in the Aussie ranks and made a great break, showed amazing pace for such bulk, and scored mid left, this time Mo’uanga was able to convert taking the score to 21–8 with around five minutes to go in the first half. On the halftime hooter McDermott that nippy little Aussie half back justified his selection over Nick White with a great darting run off a five-meter scrum, playing with the referee signalling advantage, to score under the post, taking the half time score to 21–15.

The second half started badly for the ABs, playing with the wind behind them with Ardie Savea getting yellow carded less than two minutes after the start for consistent infringements inside the ABs 22-meter line. Ardie was the victim of the referee losing patience with this fault in the ABs play. It really needs to be looked at by the defensive coaches as does the fact that opposing sides score too many points overall. However, the Blacks scored twice playing with one man short. Firstly, by Codie Taylor their hooker running 20 meters aided by a great break by Aaron Smith and scoring under the posts and then through Damian “clutch” Mackenzie slotting a 60 meter plus penalty with the wind behind him and obviously only taken to wind the clock down until Ardie could finish his time in the bin. Score 31–15 and the irrepressible Seevu Reece took his cue with another intercept off a long pass, a scathing run and a try under the posts taking the score to 38–15.

The game was approaching the last 20 minutes and the much-vaunted NZ bench came on. Three Barret brothers and a refreshed front row supplanted by two fresh props proved too much for the Wallabies. The Black scrum began to dominate. Codie Taylor helped himself to another try-scoring far right, the conversion missed by Ritchie Mo’uanga in the rain which was bucketing down by this stage. Ardie Savea helped Will Jordan over the line to score far-right and Beauden Barret who was in for Mo’uanga gained the additional two points with a great kick taking the score to 50–15 and virtually ensuring that the Bledisloe cup remains in NZ for another year. Kalloway on the Aussie wing scored his second try for the game taking the score to 50-22 but David Havili had the last laugh going over mid-right off a great run by Will Jordan and Barret senior signalled the curtain call with another impeccable conversion. Final score 57–22 with 79 points in total being scored in 82 minutes of scintillating rugby.

Full kudos to the All-Black coaches and selectors. There were some great moves off line outs and the only near-disaster from the selection of Rikko Ioane at no13 came from a characteristic wild pass on the All Blacks line at the closing stages of the game. Those of us who thought we knew better and were enraptured by the long odds offered by the bookies and laid the money down on a Wallaby victory, saw our money sizzle its way out of our hands and into the capricious pockets of the worthies!

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