Ruthless All Blacks stay unbeaten

Peerless execution from New Zealand led to a 41-33 victory over Australia at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

Despite a great improvement from the Wallabies, their performance was no match for the ruthlessness of New Zealand ― epitomised by their second try for Sam Cane as Aaron Cruden, Julian Savea and Israel Dagg flawlessly combined.

Restarts plagued the Wallabies constantly as New Zealand continued to win the ball back and then add subsequent points;  increasing the gap on the scoreboard.

The emotion on debutant Peter Betham's face during the anthems proved that this was no dead-rubber Test, with Wallaby pride on the line after two defeats already to their Tasman rivals earlier this year.  They scored three tries through Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani as the salvage mission being undertaken by Ewen McKenzie continues.

Generally written off against New Zealand, who haven't lost this year, Australia started hungrily with an amount of territory and possession inside All Blacks territory.  Their effort level didn't fade, but they couldn't keep pace with the world champions for long enough to take the lead ― despite getting close at 33-26.

Israel Folau underlined his status as the Wallabies' biggest threat with a half-break through the defensive line, putting Australia on the go-forward as they showed their intent.

A scrappily-assembled scrum forced Kieran Read to hold on and Quade Cooper converted the resulting penalty for a 3-0 lead to the visitors.

Cruden's long-range response missed and by some distance, but the ensuing possession resulted in New Zealand's first try by Savea, as Israel Dagg found the space to release the giant winger down the left touchline to score in the corner.

The aggression and commitment of the Wallaby forwards though to provide Will Genia with a strong platform benefited Australia hugely and created the opportunity for Cooper's drop goal on 16 minutes.

Cruden's response had New Zealand 10-6 ahead at the close of the first quarter, but the All Blacks formula was still working well ― powerful turnover, kick ahead from Ma'a Nonu and then forcing a rushed kick from Adam Ashley-Cooper to set up position in the Wallabies 22 and win the penalty for Cruden to convert.  Simple enough on paper, but it has become the All Blacks mantra.

Lazy running from Tony Woodcock produced a penalty for Cooper to successfully add another three points, the Wallabies staying within range.

Desperate defence from Ben McCalman on his opposite man Read denied the All Blacks a second try coming up to half an hour in, but they wouldn't have to wait long.

Cruden's perfectly weighted cross-field kick landed in Savea's basket, passing onto Dagg who beat Folau and Betham to find Sam Cane in space for a run-in and his sixth try in 13 Tests.

It was truly vintage stuff from the world champions, who were magnificent on the day.

Australia didn't deserve to be 11 points off the pace and they chipped that down to eight with another Cooper penalty as the tempo of the match entered a crucial phase before half-time.

The second try for New Zealand had been a gem, and their third matched it.  The key was Liam Messam's inside line after Dagg, again, fixed the defence ― so that the Messam could cut in and offload to Cruden to go over.

At 30-12 the Wallabies needed something to cling on to.  They got it through Adam Ashley-Cooper, surprising space on the outside left uncovered by the Kiwi defence for him to cross over as Cooper added a super conversion.

Australia had not even performed badly.  New Zealand were just phenomenal.

Nonu's subtle touch with the boot after the break had the All Blacks holding Australia by the throat once more ― a five-metre scrum looming.  Cruden's pass was poor but a penalty came New Zealand's way and the fly-half converted for a 33-19 lead.

Australia cut into it handsomely through Kuridrani's interception, breaking upfield after poaching Savea's pass and offloading to Toomua for the try.

Cruden's bizarre close-range miss kept the gap at seven, but the fourth try wasn't far behind from Read.

James Slipper was wrapped up in a double tackle and lost possession, but from there New Zealand's one-on-one passing, drawing in the opposite man, worked perfectly to create a comfortable overlap on the left for Read to cruise over.

Kuridrani's beautiful step inside Ben Smith had the Wallabies supporters in the crowd in full voice, the resulting maul winning a penalty for Australia to kick into the corner.

Craig Joubert's refereeing drew the ire of both sets of fans as Australia's promising maul was judged to have stopped five metres out.  It cut off a priceless chance for the Wallabies to get within range.

The efforts of Kuridrani were rewarded with a try four minutes from the finish with Cooper adding another conversion.

It was just reward for Australia, who hadn't played poorly, but as with every other team couldn't live with a New Zealand team playing at their peak.

Man of the Match:  Two assists for Israel Dagg capped a fine performance from the New Zealand full-back.

Moment of the Match:  Australia at 30-12 could have been cut off but Adam Ashley-Cooper's try just before the break kept them in the hunt.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Savea, Cane, Cruden, Read
Cons:  Cruden 3
Pens:  Cruden 4, Barrett

For Australia:
Try:  Ashley-Cooper, Toomua, Kuridrani
Cons:  Cooper 3
Pens:  Cooper 3
Drop Goal:  Cooper

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Charles Piutau, 13 Ben Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Owen Franks, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Steven Luatua, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Tom Taylor.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Peter Betham, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Ben Mowen, 5 James Horwill (capt), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Dave Dennis, 21 Nic White, 22 Mike Harris, 23 Bernard Foley.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
TMO:  Vinny Munro (New Zealand)

Resurgent Australia thrash Pumas

Israel Folau scored a hat-trick after 42 minutes as Australia bounced back by hammering Argentina 54-17 in Rosario.

The Wallabies were utterly unrecognisable from the side that left Newlands with their tails between their legs seven days ago, playing with an intensity that was too much for Argentina to contain as they racked up a national record winning score in a Rugby Championship/Tri-Nations match.

Folau was at the heart of everything good that Australia produced, taking his tally to seven tries in nine matches at Test level since making his debut against the British and Irish Lions back in June.

Granted the defence opposite them was more porous than in recent weeks, but the Wallabies have often come unstuck when it has come to finishing off their chances.  There was little complacency in Rosario as they racked up seven tries.

Argentina were for the most part brutally disappointing.  The intensity shown against New Zealand and South Africa at home, based around a ferocious defence and physicality at the breakdown, was at times completely absent.

The Pumas are developing a concerning habit of imploding when the pressure is on to pick up their first victory in The Rugby Championship.  The arrival of a tarnished Australia team torn apart in recent weeks by their critics presented an absolutely golden opportunity.

As much as Wallabies were brilliant, Argentina were painfully lacklustre.  It was the worst possible goodbye for a Pumas legend — Felipe Contepomi bowing out at 36 years of age.

Their inaccuracy was best summed up a ten-minute period of dominance with four scrum penalties on the Australian five-metre line, only to leave the ball loose at the back of the fifth scrum for the Wallabies to pounce and clear.  When their execution needed to be perfect, Argentina spluttered.

Too often the hosts couldn't live with the pace of Will Genia and Quade Cooper controlling the gain line through flat passes and pace around the flat-footed Argentinian forwards on the fringes.

Australia have been undone by bright starts in recent matches but they struck first here, working the ball into space for Joe Tomane who freed up room for Folau down the left touchline for the first score inside three minutes.

Tomane then squandered another golden chance when he failed to find a man after bursting through once more, the home crowd muted by the Wallabies' early impetus.

The Pumas have had the best scrum in the competition and it was no surprise to see them earn a penalty from the first engagement.  A clever kick through behind forced Cooper to concede a five-metre scrum.

A precarious position for the Wallabies saw them buckle under the first engagement and then the second a few minutes later from the same distance.

With the Wallabies warned, they were lucky not to concede a penalty try after their third indiscretion.  James Slipper was sin-binned after the fourth but on the fifth Australia escaped through Genia's kick — a psychological blow far more damaging than Folau's early try.

Argentina's dangerous burst illustrated their confidence at running from within their own half — Marcelo Bosch and Juan Imhoff causing problems for the backtracking Wallaby defence until Julio Farias Cabello was penalised for entering a ruck from the side.

Enjoying more space around the fringes than they have been afforded in the tournament until Rosario, Australia flourished — particularly thanks to the reintroduction of Genia at scrum-half whose flat passes continued to unlock the defence.

An interception from the impressive Marcelo Bosch resulted in Argentina's first points from the boot of fly-half Nicolas Sanchez as the crowd came back into life, before the renewed atmosphere was snuffed out.

Openside Pablo Matera was sin-binned for a tackle without the arms on a rampaging Scott Fardy down the touchline, Lealiifano adding his second penalty as a result to give Australia a healthy ten-point advantage.

Their lead then became insurmountable.  Folau slipped out of the tackle down the right touchline and combined with Genia to release Adam Ashley-Cooper for the Wallabies second score — Australia up 18-3.

Folau, everywhere in first half, then hammered the nail in the coffin.  Rob Simmons pass found the superb full-back on a sweet line up the middle of the field and the tri-code convert galloped over round Juan Martin Hernandez.

The Pumas desperately needed something to take into half-time and it came from Bosch, skipping inside a hapless tackling effort from Folau with Sanchez converting to reduce the deficit to 15 points.

Folau then sealed his hat-trick immediately after the break on an inside pass from Cooper for a score that looked way too easy.

Martin Landajo snapped back with a score for the Pumas as Australia ran out of numbers defending their own line, but with the Wallabies still ahead 32-17.

The Wallabies were reduced to 14 Simmons needlessly checked Contepomi off the ball, but the Pumas misfired on a promising attacking lineout inside the Australian 22.

Michael Hooper put down a simple pass after Tomane again burst through space to keep the Wallabies honest, 15 points ahead but with too long left in the game to be complacent.  Three points from a Cooper penalty helped their cause.

Tomane grabbed an opportunistic score to bring up the 40-point mark for the Wallabies as Contepomi departed to a rousing reception on his 88th and final appearance.

Benn Robinson bounced over for Australia's sixth score before Bernard Foley turned out the lights on debut with a breakaway try, racking up the half century to cap a miserable night for the Pumas in a far cry from the one-point battle between these two sides in Perth earlier this season.

Man of the match:  For finishing the contest so early, Israel Folau takes the plaudits.  A major weapon.

Moment of the match:  Argentina's successive scrums with the Wallabies on the rack before they forgot one thing ... the ball.

Villain of the match:  For daring to body-check the retiring Contepomi, Rob Simmons is your bad guy.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Bosch, Landajo
Cons:  Sanchez 2
Pen:  Sanchez
Yellow Card:  Matera

For Australia:
Tries:  Folau 3, Ashley-Cooper, Tomane, Robinson, Foley
Cons:  Lealiifano 2, Cooper, Foley 2
Pens:  Lealiifano 2, Cooper
Yellow Card:  Slipper

Argentina:  15 Juan Martin Hernandez, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 7 Pablo Matera, 6 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (c), 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Julio Farias Cabello, 3 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements:  16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Nahuel Lobo, 18 Matias Diaz, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Benjamn Macome, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Fernandez, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nic White, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Bernard Foley.

Venue:  Gigante de Arroyito Stadium, Rosario
Referee:  Wayne Barnes

All Blacks win classic at Ellis Park

The All Blacks retained the Rugby Championship silverware on Saturday as a six wins from six record ended with a 38-27 victory over South Africa.

It had been billed as possessing the ingredients to create one of the great Tests and the two teams did not disappoint.  Put simply, it was a classic.

There were thrills and spills from minute one with nine tries scored in all, but crucially for New Zealand they picked up the try bonus-point.

In fact they got five, despite being down to 14 men for a quarter of the game.  The Boks though can't fault their own efforts and neither will their fans.

But this is a special group of All Blacks who, despite missing Dan Carter, were led superbly by the likes of Kieran Read, Israel Dagg, Ma'a Nonu and Liam Messam.  Substitute fly-half Beauden Barrett was also critical coming off the bench.

New Zealand did begin the stronger but despite their dominance, the All Blacks failed to trouble the scoreboard.  What they did do was show to any pre-game pessimists they weren't here to just defend.

South Africa were clearly awoken and hit back after Charlie Faumuina was penalised by referee Nigel Owens at the scrum.  Morne Steyn made no mistake to put his side 3-0 up.

Attempting to seal victory before going all guns blazing for tries was clearly the message from Heyneke Meyer and unfortunately for South Africa they weren't prepared for the Kiwis' retort.  Ben Smith it was who crossed for the game's first try on twelve minutes following excellent work down the sideline from Read, who offloaded after drawing two defenders.  Smith then stepped inside and raced over for his eighth try of this year's tournament.

Smith's score saw him become the record marksman for a season in the Rugby Championship and old Tri-Nations format, moving above Habana and Christian Cullen.

Cue the aforementioned Bok to show his unique class as he went over for a brace of scores in two minutes.  His first arrived following Duane Vermuelen's line break 35 metres out, with the number eight then firing out a good pass to his wing who did well to get under the posts.

South Africa were now 10-7 ahead before Habana's second moment of brilliance, this time one of the best of his career.  The Toulon-bound wing was this time sent on his way by a superb offload on halfway from Francois Louw, with Habana's chip over the top bringing his pace to the fore as he made it 15-7.  Unluckily for him, he would soon leave the field injured.

New Zealand, as is their wont, responded in kind through Messam's drive over the line, helped by the hard-working Brodie Retallick, as the lead was down to a single point.

It had looked like South Africa might hit back though in the closing stages of the half but streetwise defence saved the visitors' skin before they launched a late attack of their own.  It bore fruit too, with Messam finishing off a fine team try on the left for a 21-15 half-time lead.

So New Zealand had three tries to South Africa's two, as the importance of the next five-pointer became increasingly critical to the destination of the Rugby Championship trophy.

It would be the Boks who claimed it and that arrived following a yellow card for Messam at a ruck.  Willie le Roux was the man to go in from a quickly-taken penalty and with Steyn's successful extras, the home side were 22-21 to the good with 34 minutes remaining.

The lead exchanged hands once again when Barrett kicked a penalty in the 55th minute.

Jean de Villiers then showed grit two minutes later when he sold a dummy and crashed his way over Barrett and Nonu to score his side's fourth try, with Steyn missing the two points.

The tourists then struck a psychological blow as Barrett scored the All Blacks' fourth try of the match — an impressive individual one at that — to ensure they claimed the silverware.

The All Blacks shrugged off another numerical disadvantage when Ben Franks was sin-binned as Read extended their lead with fifteen minutes left in the Ellis Park encounter.

The Boks made a spirited attempt to cut the gap to secure the consolation of victory but their opponents proved too strong and will celebrate another triumph and a 100 percent record.

Man of the match:  The future long-term captain of New Zealand, Kieran Read, showed once again that he is probably the most complete player in world rugby.  Offloads to savour, pace and just a real dog about him made the number eight's performance stand out.

Moment of the match:  It was going to be Bryan Habana's second try but how can one overlook super-sub Beauden Barrett.  He has been the scourge of South Africa this year, being key in Brodie Retallick's try at Eden Park before scoring one of his own today.  Superb.

Villain of the match:  Nothing dirty to report but if we have to, how about that teamsheet typo?

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Habana 2, Le Roux, De Villiers
Con:  Steyn 2
Pen:  Steyn

For New Zealand:
Tries:  B Smith, Messam 2, Barrett, Read
Con:  Cruden 3, Barrett 2
Pen:  Barrett

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Gurthrí¶ Steenkamp, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Franco van der Merwe, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Ruan Pienaar 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Charles Piutau

Referee:  Nigel Owens
Assistant referees:  John Lacey, Leighton Hodges
Television match official:  Graham Hughes