Helped by a penalty-try at a critical moment of the game, Australia buried the Carisbrook bogey emphatically and kept their 2001 Tri-Nations prospects alive by downing New Zealand 23-15 with a disciplined performance at Dunedin.
The All Blacks scored the first try, in the second minute, and the last but in between the Australians demonstrated why they are the world champions, operating with composure, patience and assurance.
Most importantly of all, they took their opportunities.
While Tony Brown disappointed his home-town fans by landing just one goal from four attempts, Matt Burke, ever the man for the occasion, coolly slotted five out of six, to complement a stunning individual try.
But the turning point was the awarding by referee Steve Lander of a penalty-try to the Wallabies when All Black No.8 Ron Cribb crudely tackled Joe Roff minus the ball.
The Wallabies were ahead 13-8 at the time with 18 minutes remaining and the game was wide open. But once Burke added the conversion for 20-8, the All Blacks' fate was effectively sealed.
"The penalty-try killed us," New Zealand captain Anton Oliver declared afterwards. "It left us with too much to claw back."
Why Cribb flattened Roff as he was setting out in pursuit of a well-judged kick through by Stephen Larkham remains a mystery. The ball settled short of the deadball line and it would have been a straight sprint between Roff and New Zealand's fastest man Doug Howlett.
But Cribb's rush of blood left referee Lander no alternative but to divert to the goalposts and award the try which, remarkably, is the first penalty-try ever conceded by the All Blacks in a Test.
Burke's third penalty goal in the 67th minute pushed Australia out to 23-8, a scoreline which rather distorted the evenness of the contest.
A flurry of changes, which got Byron Kelleher and Andrew Mehrtens involved, finally sparked an All Black try, tellingly created by Tana Umaga and Jonah Lomu and sweetly finished off by New Zealand's best player Jeff Wilson ... his 50th try -- in all matches -- for New Zealand.
It was too little too late and the All Blacks were left to lament handling lapses, poor goalkicking and indiscipline within range of their goalposts.
The statistical sheet revealed that New Zealand had the greater share of possession, won the rucks and mauls, yet made 18 handling errors against Australia's five, which starkly illustrated where this match was won.
Brilliantly guided by those master tacticians George Gregan and Stephen Larkham, the Wallabies played this game almost chess-like, demonstrating great patience while cutting errors to an absolute minimum.
They won the tactical kicking game hands down. They almost taunted New Zealand by repeatedly kicking the ball at them, always deep. "Come on, run it back at us!" they seemed to be saying.
But, surprisingly, New Zealand almost never took up the challenge.
Although they possessed immense strike power among the three-quarters, they rarely sought to counter attack and move the ball wide.
New Zealand had had the best possible start to the game, with Lomu scoring inside two minutes, courtesy of some masterly play by Wilson after Larkham's first kick, a grubber, had come unstuck. Wilson hacked the ball 70 metres downfield, New Zealand claimed a quick line-out and Umaga pushed the ball through perfectly for Lomu to run on to.
Brown missed the conversion and a penalty attempt soon after. What could have been 10-nil remained 5-nil.
Burke didn't hiccup when the same opportunities came his way. He converted his own try, from wide out, and soon after landed a penalty goal. Suddenly the Aussies had a 10-5 lead, one they would never relinquish.
It became 10-8, then 13-8 after half-time, with both teams creating likely situations, many of them stymied by referee Lander's pedantic interpretation of the tackle ball zone.
That's how it remained until the penalty-try was given, an award that flattened New Zealand's hopes of regaining the Bledisloe Cup which has been the property of Australia since 1998.
If Burke was Australia's most valuable player, it was by the slenderest margin from Gregan and Larkham, who controlled vast portions of the game.
Daniel Herbert was thrustful at centre, Toutai Kefu drove powerfully off the back of the scrum, George Smith scavenged expertly again and John Eales marshaled his troops mightily as always.
The Aussies were often under pressure in the scrums and surprisingly conceded three line-outs against the throw. But they absorbed every setback and went back to doing the basics beautifully.
The All Blacks would be hugely disappointed with their effort, especially losing at Carisbrook, their favourite ground (where their record against Australia had been intact since 1913).
Justin Marshall was laboured again at halfback, which impacted on Brown whose tactical and goalkicking was sub-standard.
Umaga tried but couldn't get through at centre until the final stages while Lomu oozed aggression on the wing but once again, and it's now reaching an almost criminal level, he was starved of attacking chances.
Wilson was elegant and effective in everything he did at fullback, which included saving a certain try when he gave Roff a 10-metre start and gunned him down.
The All Black scrum was strong, Troy Flavell pilfered Aussie line-out throws and Cribb had a powerful game but undid all his good work by yielding that penalty-try.
Man of the match: Not for the first time Matt Burke proved the All Blacks' nemesis, accounting for all of Australia's points apart from the penalty-try. His try was a magnificent solo effort while his general play was faultless.
Moment of the match: Had to be the penalty-try, witlessly conceded by Ron Cribb through tackling Joe Roff without the ball. The All Blacks trailed by only five points at the time and could still have salvaged the game. At 8-20, they were dead and buried.
Villain of the match: No yellow cards, no red cards, no stoush, no unsavoury moments. From the New Zealanders' viewpoint, the villain was Cribb for conceding the penalty-try.
The teams:
Australia: 1 Rod Moore, 2 Michael Foley, 3 Nic Stiles, 4 John Eales (c), 5 Justin Harrison, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 George Smith, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan, 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Nathan Grey, 13 Dan Herbert, 14 Andrew Walker, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves: Brendan Cannon, Matt Cockbain, Elton Flatley, Chris Latham, Ben Darwin, Phil Waugh
Unused: Chris Whitaker
New Zealand: 1 Greg Somerville, 2 Anton Oliver (c), 3 Carl Hoeft, 4 Troy Flavell, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Taine Randell, 7 Reuben Thorne, 8 Ron Cribb, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Tony Brown, 11 Doug Howlett, 12 Pita Alatini, 13 Tana Umaga, 14 Jonah Lomu, 15 Jeff Wilson
Reserves: Carl Hayman, Marty Holah, Leon MacDonald, Mark Cooksley, Byron Kelleher, Andrew Mehrtens
Unused: Mark Hammett
Attendance: 36000
Referee: Lander s.
Points Scorers:
Australia
Tries: Burke M.C. 1, Penalty Try 1
Conv: Burke M.C. 2
Pen K.: Burke M.C. 3
New Zealand
Tries: Lomu J.T. 1, Wilson J.W. 1
Conv: Mehrtens A.P. 1, Umaga J.F. 1
Pen K.: Brown T.E. 1
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