Saturday 31 October 2009

Bledisloe blackwash in Tokyo

New Zealand completed a clean sweep in the 2009 Bledisloe Cup on Saturday with a 32-19 win over Australia in Tokyo.

The Wallabies got off to a good start but faded as the match went on and were unable to score in the second half.

Australia led 16-13 at half time after a Peter Hynes try cancelled out an earlier score from All Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu.

Sivivatu has rounded off a fabulous team effort to put New Zealand ahead after two Matt Giteau penalties had given Australia an early lead.

But the Wallabies were able to wrestle the lead back when Sivivatu earned a yellow card for taking Adam Ashley-Cooper out in the air.

The All Blacks move back in front shortly after the break when centre Conrad Smith broke clear to score.

Dan Carter added three more penalties to seal the deal for New Zealand.

It was a more committed Australian side who showed they had regained their physicality to put the experience of Wellington and their 33-6 loss to the All Blacks in their last encounter behind them.

But they were still unable to find the finesse to put the All Blacks under sufficient pressure.

Number eight Wycliff Paul twice went close to scoring, being held up on the line the first time, and losing the ball in the tackle the second time.

Handling mistakes proved costly on several occasions for the Wallabies.

Half-back Will Genia, inside centre Adam Ashley-Cooper and wing Digby Ioane were each slippery on attack but were unable to head off the All Blacks cover defence.

New Zealand's performance was not as dominant as in Wellington but with all the emphasis on coaching changes the lineout proved more competitive from the outset.

Australia did make the most of the sin-binning of wing Sitiveni Sivivatu after a dangerous tackle on an airborne Ashley-Cooper and wing Peter Hynes was awarded a controversial try soon after when referee Mark Lawrence became frustrated at the delay in the decision-making of a Japanese television match official.

Earlier, clever All Blacks handling overcame determined Australian defence to produce the first try of the game after Matt Giteau had landed two penalty goals to one by Dan Carter.

Carter took a heavy hit but still managed to recycle the ball and half-back Jimmy Cowan threw a long pass to flanker Richie McCaw who in-passed to lock Tom Donnelly.

He linked with full-back Mils Muliaina and he found McCaw in support and his pass outside found wing Sitiveni Sivivatu in the clear.

Carter landed a conversion from wide out for a 10-6 lead.

Giteau and Carter exchanged penalty goals in the 29th and 30th minutes.

Australia struck back after Sivivatu's sin-binning and moved the ball to wing Peter Hynes, with Genia firing a long pass from a maul.

Hynes was in the clear but three All Blacks cover defenders looked to get him as he dived at the line.  Referee Mark Lawrence called for the television match official to see if Hynes grounded the ball short of the line.

Initial replays were inconclusive but Lawrence lost patience with the amount of time taken and ruled the try had been scored.  Giteau landed a fine conversion to give Australia a 16-13 lead.

Moments later, after some poor All Blacks decision-making, Palu ran off the back of a scrum toward the line but was unable to ground the ball as Cowan got under him and the All Blacks were able to survive until the half-time whistle.

Sivivatu marked his return with a 60-metre kick which hit the corner post and when Australia cleared downfield Muliaina ran the ball upfield to link with Carter.

From the maul the ball was moved to wing Cory Jane standing at first receiver.

He threaded through the defence and passed to centre Conrad Smith who stepped through the Australians and went over for a 45th-minute try.

Penalty goals to Carter took the All Blacks to a 26-16 lead before Giteau landed his fourth to bring Australia back to the seven-point margin.

But almost immediately Carter landed a fifth penalty goal to regain the 10-point margin.

Carter's fourth penalty goal brought up his 200th point in Tests against Australia.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Try:  Hynes
Pens:  Giteau 3

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Sivivatu, Smith
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 5

Yellow card:  Sivivatu (NZ - 33rd min - dangerous tackle);

Australia:  15 James O'Connor, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 George Smith, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Drew Mitchell, 22 tbc.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements:  16 Corey Flynn, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Zac Guildford.

Venue:  Olympic Stadium
Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert, Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Television match officials:  Akihisa Aso (Japan)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)