Wallabies nilled in Auckland

New Zealand eased to a comfortable 22-0 win over Australia in Auckland on Saturday, which sees the hosts retain the Bledisloe Cup.

The All Blacks once again underlined their status as world champions by keeping their trans-Tasman rivals scoreless for the first time since 1962.

Last week's victory was built largely on a dominant first-half performance, this time the home side came out firing after the break after leading 9-0 at half-time.

Once again the All Blacks dominated their Australian counterparts in general play, which saw them thrive with ball in hand.  But despite this ascendancy, the hosts failed to convert pressure into more than one five-pointer being scored due to a couple of knock-ons at key moments.

As a result, Dan Carter kept the scoreboard ticking over thanks to another 17-point haul from the talismatic All Blacks pivot who punished mistakes made by the ill-discliplined Wallabies as the hosts came at them.

The Wallabies enjoyed a good start to the match, and looked a far better unit than the one on display in Sydney as they kept New Zealand scoreless for 25 minutes.  But a yellow card shown to stand-in skipper Will Genia 10 minutes before the break arguably was the start of Australia's downfall, as the All Blacks kicked into gear and gained control of the match.

Robbie Deans' record against the All Blacks now reads three wins from 17 fixtures.  And with yet another Bledisloe out of reach and their points-less Rugby Championship campaign on life support, the pressure on the Wallabies' coach is sure to intensify.

New Zealand had the best chances to score during the opening exchanges, with only a superb cover tackle from Adam Ashley-Cooper denying Israel Dagg, while Liam Messam was held up over the line thanks to some superb work from lock Sitaleki Timani.

After missing an early first penalty attempt, Carter finally moved the All Blacks into the lead after 25 minutes and added his second three-pointer from the resulting penalty when Genia was given his marching orders.

The visitors, though, did well to restrict the All Blacks — who now had a one-man advantage — to only one more Carter penalty before the interval as Berrick Barnes took over scrum-half duties.

With the game still anyone's for the taking at half-time, Carter landed his fourth successful kick of the match with a monster 51m effort two minutes into the second half.

And the game was effectively put out of sight soon as New Zealand went through the phases before quick ball from Aaron Smith found a superb running line of Dagg for the full-back to score his second try in as many weeks.

Carter converted and then added another penalty to move New Zealand 22-0 in front.

Australia finally had their best spell and they thought they had found a way through but a desperate tackle from Kieran Read denied Barnes.  From there the All Blacks reassumed their dominance, with replacement Ben Smith and Dagg both having good breaks — while Read lost the ball reaching for the line.

The hosts coughed up another couple of chances when Richie McCaw dropped the ball trying to spin over after Hosea Gear had been held up, while Carter passed to no one when it looked easier to score.

But at that stage of the game, it really didn't matter as the one-sided result kept the Kiwis unbeaten after two matches in the Rugby Championship whilst the Bledisloe Cup stays in New Zealand for the 10th consecutive season.

Man of the match:  Dan Carter once again played a starring role with the boot whilst Sonny Bill Williams played a key role on attack.  But we're going to give this to Kieran Read — the number eight had a quiet first forty, but was sublime on attack, defence and everything else in between after the break.

Moment of the match:  13 points in the opening eight minutes of the second half saw New Zealand take the game by the scruff of the neck, and the Kiwis didn't look back.

Villain of the match:  Oh, Will Genia ... so gracious in defeat after the match, but forced to hang his head in shame for the brain implosion suffered during it.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Try:  Dagg
Con:  Carter
Pen:  Carter 5

Yellow card:  Genia, 29th min (Australia, professional foul)

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Ma'a Nonu, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Brodie Retallick, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Ben Smith.

Australia:  15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia (c), 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 James Slipper, 18 Radike Samo, 19 Liam Gill, 20 Nick Phipps, 21 Anthony Fainga'a, 22 Kurtley Beale.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)