The All Blacks finished their Rugby Championship campaign in style when they clinched a deserved 33-13 victory against the Wallabies in Wellington on Saturday.
The home side were full value for their win as they dominated for long periods and eventually outscored the Wallabies by five tries to one, with Caleb Clarke leading the way with a brace.
Sevu Reece, Will Jordan and Tamaiti Willians also crossed the whitewash while Beauden Barrett succeeded with four conversions.
For the Wallabies, Fraser McReight scored a try and Noah Lolesio added a conversion and two three-pointers off the kicking tee.
It was a momentous result for New Zealand as they ended a five-match winless run in Wellington ― stretching back to 2018 and they also scored points for the first time during the final quarter of a match in this year’s Rugby Championship.
The Wallabies made a fine start and had a great opportunity to open the scoring as early as the third minute when Andrew Kellaway caught the All Blacks’ defence napping.
He launched an attack from just inside New Zealand’s half before booting the ball ahead inside their 22. Barrett failed to deal with the bouncing ball and Jake Gordon pounced but knocked on while trying to dot down.
Australia continued to attack inside New Zealand’s 22 and five minutes later they were rewarded when McReight barged over for the opening try from close quarters.
The All Blacks seemed shell-shocked by the intensity of the Wallabies’ onslaught as they continued to launch several attacks, but the home side did well to soak up that early pressure and soon opened their account.
In the 16th minute, Wallace Sititi launched an attack close to the halfway line and did brilliantly to draw in three defenders before offloading to Anton Lienert-Brown, who set off towards the Wallabies’ try-line. He still had plenty of work to do and found Reece with a beautifully weighted skip pass and the wing outpaced the cover defence on his way over the try-line.
Lolesio responded with a penalty soon after, before Jordan left his stamp on the match with a moment of magic. This, after he gathered a pass from Barrett just outside Australia’s 22 and the full-back did brilliantly to step past two defenders before racing away to score his try.
Despite that score, the Wallabies remained competitive and McReight came close to scoring his second try in the latter stages of the half but was held up while crossing the whitewash.
The visitors continued to attack inside New Zealand’s 22 and Lolesio eventually added another penalty in the 35th minute after New Zealand were blown up for offside play on defence.
Despite that score, the All Blacks had one more trick up their sleeve as just before half-time they launched a flowing attack deep inside Wallabies’ territory. Lienert-Brown turned provider again as he found Clarke with a deft offload and the flyer sliced through the visitors’ defence before scoring his first try.
Barrett added the extras which meant the match was still evenly poised with the home side leading 19-13 at the interval.
A win in Wellington 😎#AllBlacks pic.twitter.com/ihYHlLPQ8m
― All Blacks (@AllBlacks) September 28, 2024
Both sides stayed true to their attacking roots during the rest of the match, although the home side came out firing after the restart and were soon camped inside the Wallabies’ half.
And after taking the ball through several phases off the back of a lineout close to Australia’s try-line, Williams crashed over for their fourth try to extend his side’s lead.
The All Blacks continued to dominate as the half progressed and had a try from Tupou Vaa’i disallowed, five minutes later, after a handling error in the build-up.
That setback did not deter the hosts and in the 65th minute, Clarke ran onto a pass from Damian McKenzie and shrugged off two defenders before crashing over for his second five-pointer.
That score knocked the wind out of the Wallabies’ sails and secured the result for the All Blacks and, in doing so, they also ended their six-year hoodoo in Wellington.
The teams
New Zealand: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Wallace Sititi, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Scott Barrett (c), 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Luke Jacobson, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 David Havili
Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Angus Bell
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Isaac Kailea, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Josh Flook
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (England), Damian Schneider (Argentina)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
Both sides scored four tries a piece with the hosts going over the whitewash with Fraser McReight, Matt Faessler, Hunter Paisami and Tom Wright with Noah Lolesio kicking all the conversions in a flawless day from the tee.